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Everything that made Wednesday's 8-1 loss to Oakland gross made today's 9-2 win over Houston good. The Rangers were fresh off getting swept by the A's earlier this week to begin this road trip and were facing an Astros team looking to get out of the AL West cellar and make a statement that they weren't going to go away easily this season.
Instead, the Rangers swept the Astros this weekend and allowed just four total runs in doing so. As good as Colby Lewis and Cesar Ramos were on Friday and Saturday, Cole Hamels showed why he's Cole Hamels in today's finale. Hamels allowed a solo home run and an unearned run but otherwise he was in complete control of the game all afternoon.
The offense scored nine runs, with seven of them coming off Dallas Keuchel, and the outburst was punctuated by yet another five-run inning in the 3rd. Every Ranger in the lineup had at least one hit among the 13 total hits for Texas. Nomar Mazara hit his sixth home run of the season in the 7th to put a bow on the series sweep.
With their second sweep of Houston this season, the Rangers moved to 6-0 against the Astros and finished their six-game road trip a respectable 3-3.
Player of the Game: Cole Hamels heard that Yu Darvish was about to return to Texas and decided to up his Ace game. Cole went 8 innings and collected 11 strikeouts while allowing just one earned as he matched up against last season's Cy Young winner in the American League and helped his team complete a sweep of a division rival. Now that's worth Nick Williams.
Up Next: The Rangers open a three-game series against the Anaheim Angels in Arlington on Monday night. Nick Tropeano will make the start for the Angels with Derek Holland pitching for Texas. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm CT.