Rangers 13, Angels 7
Josh Hamilton homered in consecutive at-bats and drove in five runs to help the Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels 13-7 on Sunday. Hamilton's first-inning homer to left-center put the Rangers ahead 2-0 and his three-run shot to right-center, his fifth of the spring, capped a five-run second as Texas opened a 7-0 lead. "I've been waiting for the wheels to stop spinning in my head and to get up there and react," Hamilton said. "It's been a gradual thing. Some days I'm too intense, some days I'm too relaxed." Chris Davis went 3-for-4 with a double, a homer and two RBIs and Taylor Teagarden also homered for the Rangers. Vladimir Guerrero returned to the Los Angeles lineup after missing two games with pink eye and had a pair of doubles. Torii Hunter homered for the Angels, who lost for just the second time in 13 games. "He's seeing the ball better," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He moved well in the outfield, too, so that was a good workout for him." Davis' fifth-inning homer off Darren Oliver landed just shy of the wrought-iron fence surrounding the stadium and gave the Rangers a 10-2 lead. Davis has four home runs in his last six games and five overall this spring. "We swing the bats very well," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "We played really good baseball today." Los Angeles rallied in the sixth against Derrick Turnbow. Bobby Abreu walked, Guerrero doubled and Hunter followed with a long home run, his fourth, halfway up the lawn in straightaway center field to cut the Rangers' lead to 10-5. Teagarden homered into the concession tent in right field in the seventh to make it 13-5. Rangers starter Brandon McCarthy went four innings, allowing two runs and six hits with two strikeouts before giving way to a series of relievers. "It was good in a lot of ways in terms of working on some things and getting out of some situations," McCarthy said. Notes: McCarthy went to the back fields after his outing and threw another two innings in a minor league game, allowing one hit and one walk with two strikeouts. "It was a weird day," he said. ... Joe Saunders had been slated to start for the Angels but was scratched because of food poisoning. The left-hander will pitch in a minor league game Monday. ... Rangers LHP C.J. Wilson pitched a perfect fifth inning and has not been scored upon in 7 1-3 innings spanning seven appearances. Wilson, sidelined for two weeks with a split callus on his left middle finger, has allowed only two hits and two walks. ... Angels 3B Chone Figgins went 2-for-4 to raise his batting average to .392. ... Rangers SS Elvis Andrus had the day's defensive gem in the seventh, diving to his left to stop Figgins' hard grounder up the middle and shoveling the ball from his glove to Ian Kinsler at second to start a double play. ... The Rangers claimed 1B Joe Koshansky from Colorado, filling their 40-man roster. Koshansky, whose 121 RBIs led all minor leaguers last season, was optioned to Texas' Triple-A club in Oklahoma City.