Rangers recap: Hamilton homers early, DeShields homers late to lead Texas over Rays

ARLINGTON Josh Hamilton homered early and gave the Rangers the go-ahead run in the eighth as Texas beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3 Friday at Globe Life Park.

Pitching: Martin Perez failed to hold leads in the second and third innings

In the sixth, Perez had two quick outs before two singles a walk put him in a bases-loaded jam. He escaped when Kevin Kiermaier grounded out to third. Sam Dyson pitched two scoreless innings of relief to earn the win before handing it over to Shawn Tolleson, who earned his 22nd save with a scoreless ninth.

Perez was charged with three runs (two earned) on eight hits and a walk.

Hitting: Delino DeShields was hit by a pitch and stole second within the first three pitches from Rays’ starter Nathan Karns, an Arlington Martin graduate who struggled with his command early. He loaded the bases with walks to Shin-Soo Choo and Prince Fielder but averted a big inning by getting Adrian Beltre to ground into a double play, although DeShields scored to give Texas a 1-0 lead. Mitch Moreland flew out to center to end the inning. Josh Hamilton led off the second with a homer to reclaim the lead 2-1. It was his first game back since missing the past two with left knee soreness.

In the fifth, Fielder had a homer robbed by center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, who made the catch at the top of the wall to preserve the 3-2 lead.

DeShields tied it at 3-3 with his first career homer in the seventh. Beltre and Moreland singled to give Texas runners at second and third with one out in the eighth. Hamilton’s sacrifice fly to center scored Beltre for the 4-3 lead and Elvis Andrus’ single up the middle scored Moreland, who had moved to third on the sac fly, to make it 5-3.

Notable: Hamilton’s homer was his first since August 2 against the Giants. It’s his sixth this season ... the Rangers won two review replay challenges in the same game for the first time this season.

This story was originally published August 14, 2015 at 10:10 PM with the headline "Rangers recap: Hamilton homers early, DeShields homers late to lead Texas over Rays."