Josh Hamilton's Potential Replacement

Rangers Vs. Rays Final Score: Tampa Bay Claims 5-2 Win Over Texas

The Texas Rangers dropped their first series of the season with a 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday. David Price earns his first career victory over the Rangers while pitching into the seventh inning.

Texas struck first when Josh Hamilton put the Rangers on top 1-0 in the first with an RBI single that scored Elvis Andrus. The Rays bounced back with four runs in the second off of Rangers starter Derek Holland.

Price allowed six hits and two runs over 6.1 innings to earn his fourth win of the season and first career victory over the Rangers. Derek Holland takes the loss after giving up nine hits and five runs over seven innings of work. Fernando Rodney picks up his seventh save of the season.

Ben Zobrist finished with three hits including a double and a triple for the Rays. Jeff Keppinger and B.J. Upton added two hits each. Nelson Cruz went 2 for 4 for the Rangers.

Read more about the Rangers at Lone Star Ball. For more on the Rays, visit DRaysBay. For more news and notes from around Major League Baseball head over to Baseball Nation.

Rangers Vs. Rays Starting Lineups For Sunday

The Texas Rangers go for their seventh straight series win to start the 2012 season tonight when they take on the Tampa Bay Rays and left hander David Price.

The Texas offense is leading the American League in runs, batting average, on base percentage and slugging percentage. Josh Hamilton leads the Rangers with a .388 average, nine home runs and 24 RBIs. Hamilton will be hitting in the three hole in today's lineup.

Here is a look at the starting lineups for today's game:

Texas Rangers

1. Ian Kinsler (R) 2B
2. Elvis Andrus (R) SS
3. Josh Hamilton (L) LF
4. Adrian Beltre (R) 3B
5. Michael Young (R) DH
6. Nelson Cruz (R) RF
7. Mike Napoli (R) 1B
8. Yorvit Torrealba (R) C
9. Craig Gentry (R) CF

Tampa Bay Rays

1. Desmond Jennings (R) LF
2. Carlos Pena (L) 1B
3. Evan Longoria (R) 3B
4. Ben Zobrist (S) RF
5. Jeff Keppinger (R) 2B
6. B.J. Upton (R) CF
7. Luke Scott (L) DH
8. Sean Rodriguez (R) SS
9. Chris Gimenez (R) C

Read more about the Rangers at Lone Star Ball. For more on the Rays, visit DRaysBay. For more news and notes from around Major League Baseball head over to Baseball Nation.

Rangers Vs. Rays Time, TV, Radio Info And More

The Texas Rangers go for their seventh straight series win on Sunday night when they face off against David Price and the Tampa Bay Rays.

Texas dropped Friday's series opener 8-4 but bounced back on Saturday with a 7-2 win behind a three-run homer from Adrian Beltre. Rays starter David Price threw a shutout last time out but he has struggled in his career against the Rangers. Price is 0-6 with a 5.30 ERA in nine career starts against the Rangers.

Rangers starter Derek Holland started the season 2-0 before allowing seven runs over six innings in a loss to the Yankees in his last start.

Game date/time: Sunday, April 29, 7 p.m. CT

Location: Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington, Texas

Pitching Matchup: Derek Holland (2-1, 4.78 ERA) vs. David Price (3-1, 2.63 ERA)

TV: ESPN

Radio: 103.3

Online Streaming: MLB.tv

Read more about the Rangers at Lone Star Ball. For more on the Rays, visit DRaysBay. For more news and notes from around Major League Baseball head over to Baseball Nation.

Adam Morris On Why Bunting Is Dumb

Defense Makes Late Difference In Texas Win

An unusual game on field and in the booth becomes a blowout because the Rangers are really good.

Rangers Vs Rays: Texas Busts Out Late For 7-2 Win

The first half of Saturday's game was two inefficient pitchers being saved by good luck and defense, with the game transitioning to a bullpen battle for the final four innings.

The defense and luck abandoned the Rays, allowing the Rangers to win the bullpen battle 5-1.

Evan Longoria couldn't field an Adrian Beltre grounder in the sixth, moving Josh Hamilton in to scoring position, and Hamilton eventually came home on an Elliot Johnson error that should have ended the inning. Another Texas run scored on an error in the seventh when Jose Molina threw the ball away with Mitch Moreland on third.

In the mean time, the Ranger defense kept up, with a nifty double play from Elvis Andrus in the sixth, and two tremendous outfield snags by David Murphy in the seventh keeping Tampa off the board. Texas pulled fully away in the seventh when Beltre made Joe Maddon pay for intentionally walking Hamilton with a three-run blast to the opposite field.

The Texas bullpen was typically awesome, with three innings, three strikeouts, no walks, and only one run off a pair of hits against Mike Adams.

Rangers Vs Rays: Rangers Lead 2-1 In 6th.

Though the score is tight and low, "pitcher's duel" probably does not describe tonight's game between Texas and Tampa too well, so far.

Colby Lewis has struggled some both with his own command and with finding a strikezone which has at times seemed to be mobile, issuing his second, third, and fourth walks of the season. With quite a few big counts and fouled pitches, his pitch count has been driven up to 84 through the first five innings.

With all that in mind, it should probably be considered a blessing his only run allowed has come on a solo home run by Matt Joyce. He has five strikeouts to go with the performance, keeping that K:BB ration impressive.

Jeff Niemann has a similar story, with a pitch count at 91 so far. Ian Kinsler walked in his first appearance, followed by an Elvis Andrus double -- just missing a home run for the second straight night -- and Josh Hamilton single to make the game 2-0 in the first. Niemann has not been dominating, the Rangers just have not been able to punish him.

Since the Hamilton single, the Rangers have had just three baserunners, bringing none home despite two getting as far as third. The Rays' gloves (and the luck dragons) have not been particularly helpful to the Texas cause, pulling down a number of hard-hit balls for outs.

Without a dramatic uptick in efficiency, it seems this will soon be a battle of the bullpens.

Source: FanGraphs

Rangers Vs. Rays: Time, TV Info And More For Saturday's Game

The Texas Rangers suffered an 8-4 loss Friday night to the Tampa Bay Rays, in the first game of a series between the two division leaders at the Ballpark in Arlington. The Rangers will look to even the series Saturday evening.

Tampa Bay's bats got at it early Friday, scoring four in the first off Rangers starter Matt Harrison to give James Shields his fourth victory of the season. On Saturday, the Rays will have to face Rangers right-hander Colby Lewis (2-0, 2.02), who has struck out 24 this season in 26.2 innings, while issuing only one walk. Rays starter Jeff Niemann (1-2, 4.11) is 0-2 with an 11.17 ERA in two career starts against Texas; catcher Mike Napoli is 5-12 lifetime against Niemann, and has homered, doubled and tripled off the Tampa Bay starter.

Date & Time: Saturday, April 28, 7:05 CDT

TV: Fox Sports Southwest

Online Streaming: MLB.TV

Read more about the Rangers at Lone Star Ball. For more on the Rays, visit DRaysBay.

Rays Deal Rangers Ugly Loss

Texas suffers their biggest loss of the year, but still have plenty to be happy about.

Rangers Drop First Game Of Series 8-4

Matt Harrison's first poor outing of the year leads to a Texas loss.

Rangers Vs. Rays: Rangers Drop First Game of Series 8-4

On a warm April night in Arlington, in front of a sellout crowd, only one team's bats reflected the temperature. The Texas Rangers dropped the first game of a three-game series to the Tampa Bay Rays 8-4

Mark Lowe took over for Matt Harrison in the sixth, and gave up a two-out solo home run to Luke Scott.

David Murphy tried to spark the Rangers offense in the bottom of the sixth with a solo home-run to right field. Back-to-back two-out singles by Mitch Moreland and Ian Kinsler put James Shields in a mini-jam, but he was able to battle through and finish the inning off.

Koji Uehara and Robbie Ross pitched one-two-three innings in the seventh and eighth respectively.

The Rangers would chase JP Howell in the eighth inning on back-to-back singles from Nelson Cruz and Murphy. Wade Davis came in relief of Howell. He stuck out Mike Napoli, but Moreland was able to reach safely when Evan Longoria, running into shallow left, dropped a fly ball. With bases loaded, one out and Kinsler batting, Cruz was thrown out at home attempting to score on a passed ball. Kinsler would walk, loading the bases for Elvis Andrus. On the tenth pitch of the at-bat, Andrus almost snuck a ball around the right field foul pole, but it was just foul. The next pitch, he flied out to center, ending the inning.

Ross would stay on to face one hitter in the ninth, a strikeout. Alexi Ogando took over and retired the last two hitters of the night.

The Rangers managed nothing in ninth inning and would go on to lose the game 8-4.

Rangers Vs. Rays: Rangers Down 7-3 Through Five Innings

On a warm Friday night at the Ballpark in Arlington, the Tampa Bay Rays quickly jumped ahead of Matt Harrison and the Texas Rangers in the top of the first inning. After a Desmond Jennings lead-off single, Ian Kinsler booted a would-be double play, allowing Carlos Pena to reach base. The next batter, Evan Longoria smashed a 404-foot 3-run home run to dead center, putting the Rays up 3-0. Harrison then walked Ben Zobrist and allowed back-to-back singles to Jeff Keppinger and BJ Upton. Zobrist scored on the Upton single and put the Rays up 4-0

The Rangers tried chipping away in the bottom of the inning with a Kinsler lead-off double off the right field wall. He advanced to third on an Elvis Andrus single and scored on a Josh Hamilton RBI ground out to shortstop. Unfortunately the Rangers could not capitalize more and left two runners on base.

Harrison found himself in trouble again in the third inning. With two outs and runners on first and second, Chris Gimenez bounced a line drive single off the right field wall scoring Keppinger from second. Upton tried to score from first, but Nelson Cruz quickly got the ball in to Andrus who through a strike to Mike Napoli at the plate for the close tag-out.

Harrison got touched up again in the fourth. After giving up a lead-off double to Elliot Johnson, Harrison got the next two hitters, but Longoria knocked in his fourth RBI of the game on a single to left. Zobrist followed that with a deep double to center, scoring Longoria.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Rangers showed some sign of life. Hamilton followed an Andrus single with his ninth home run of the year, a scorching 416-foot line drive to right-center, bringing the score to 7-3.

Rangers Vs. Rays: Friday's Lineups Announced

The lineups for Friday's series-opener between the Rangers and Rays have been posted. Both teams come into this series in Arlington hot, with the Rangers boasting the top record in MLB while the Rays are on a five-game winning streak. These teams last met in the ALDS last season, where the Rangers came out on top.

There are no notable changes for the Rangers, who have used the same lineup for most of the season. The Rays lineup is quite different than Thursday, notably with Matt Joyce absent.

Here is the lineup for the Rangers:

Ian Kinsler 2B,

Elvis Andrus SS,

Josh Hamilton CF,

Adrian Beltre 3B,

Michael Young DH,

Nelson Cruz RF,

David Murphy LF,

Mike Napoli C,

Mitch Moreland 1B

Here is the lineup for the Rays:

Desmond Jennings LF,

Carlos Pena 1B,

Evan Longoria 3B,

Ben Zobrist RF,

Jeff Keppinger DH,

B.J. Upton CF,

Sean Rodriguez SS,

Chris Gimenez C

Elliot Johnson 2B

Read more about the Rangers at Lone Star Ball. For more on the Rays, visit DRaysBay.

Rangers Vs. Rays: Game Preview, TV Info And More

The Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays start their weekend series Friday at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Texas comes in boasting the best mark in Major League Baseball at 15-4. The Rays, 12-7, are riding a five-game winning streak.

Texas and Tampa are starting to form a bit of a rivalry, since the Rangers have taken care of business against the Rays in the playoffs over the past couple of years. In this early regular season head-to-head, both teams are playing really good baseball, so it should make for an interesting weekend.

Starting pitchers for Friday's game are James Shields for the Rays and Matt Harrison for the Rangers. Here is a look at the game schedule and television information:

Date/Time: Friday, April 27, 7:05 p.m. CDT

TV: TXA 21 (CBS local)

Online streaming: MLB.TV

Read more about the Rangers at Lone Star Ball. For more on the Rays, visit DRaysBay.

Texas Rangers Vs. Tampa Bay Rays Preview: Five Questions With DRays Bay

Jason Collette of DRays Bay and Baseball Prospectus stops by to answer five questions about the upcoming Rays and Rangers series.