Sports Network | June 6, 2010
Arlington, TX (Sports Network) – John Jaso had three hits, including a home run, and drove in five runs, and B.J. Upton collected three hits, scored three times, stole a base and knocked in a run to power Tampa Bay past Texas, 9-5, to salvage the last of a three-game set at Rangers Ballpark.
Matt Garza (6-4) earned the win after toiling through 5 2/3 innings during which he gave up four runs on six hits, while walking two and fanning four for the Rays, who wound up with a split on their just-concluded six-game road trip.
Reid Brignac singled twice, scored two times and stole a base, and Carlos Pena added a home run for the visitors, who won for just the second time in their last nine games in Arlington since the start of last season.
Rich Harden (3-2) took the loss after allowing four runs — three earned — on four hits and three walks, while fanning six and tossing a season-high 111 pitches for the Rangers, who lost for the second time in their last six games.
Matt Treanor belted two solo home runs for Texas, including a two-out blast in the second inning that gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead.
Jaso, serving as the designated hitter and leadoff man, put the Rays in front in the next half inning with a two-run home run to right field.
The struggling Pena continued the long ball trend with a leadoff blast to right in the fourth to give the Rays a two-run cushion.
Ian Kinsler walked to open the bottom of the fourth and moved to third base on a single by Vladimir Guerrero, who then advanced to second on a wild pitch. David Murphy bounced out to second base to plate Kinsler to trim the lead to 3-2 and push Guerrero to third, from where he was thrown out trying to score on a Justin Smoak ground ball to Pena at first base.
The Rays put runners at the corners with one out in the fifth for Evan Longoria, who singled into left field to score Upton to restore their two-run lead.
Sean Rodriguez bunted for a base hit against Dustin Nippert with one out in the sixth, moved to second base on a groundout and scored when Upton slipped a single past a sliding Kinsler at second base to extend the lead to 5-2.
Guerrero doubled with one out in the sixth and scored on a two-out single by Smoak that trimmed the deficit to 5-3 and knocked Garza out of the game. Dan Wheeler took over and hit Treanor and then gave way to the lefty Randy Choate, who was called on to face pinch-hitter Josh Hamilton.
Hamilton delivered a base hit through the hole on the left side, against a shift that had been playing him to pull, chasing home Smoak for a 5-4 game. Choate ended the inning by getting Julio Borbon to ground out.
Brignac and Upton stroked back-to-back singles in the eighth off Frank Francisco, and after Upton stole second base, the Rays had runners at second and third and one out. Jaso lined a single over a drawn-in infield to right field to deliver both runners to push the margin to 7-4.
Jaso then swiped the first base of his career, and after Carl Crawford struck out, Francisco was replaced by Darren O’Day, who yielded a hit to Ben Zobrist that brought Jaso around to make it an 8-4 contest.
Tampa Bay tacked on another run in the ninth off Chris Ray when Jaso doubled in Brignac with two outs.
Treanor belted his second longball of the day leading off the bottom of the ninth against Joaquin Benoit. The right-hander got two outs before giving way to Rafael Soriano, who fanned Michael Young with a runner on to end the four- hour, six-minute marathon.
The win for Garza was his first in six starts since he beat Seattle on May 5. He is 4-3 in eight career starts against the Rangers and has won twice in Arlington…Longoria has reached base in 25 straight games to match New York’s Derek Jeter for the longest active streak in the majors…Pena went 2-for-5 and now has four hits in last 35 at-bats…Rodriguez has hit safely in eight straight…Elvis Andrus of Texas went 1-for-5 to push his hitting streak to 12 games…Smoak has hit safely in seven out of eight, while Young went 1-for-5 and has hit safely in 19 out of 21…Hamilton did not start the game due to right knee inflammation.