74-76 - Hope is itself a species of happiness: Texas wins 3-1

Well, here we are again. The Twins lost. The Royals lost. The Mariners lost, of course. The Angels are losing. The Rangers are just 3.5 games out of the playoffs.

Maybe the American League is just bad enough...

Player of the Game: Martin Perez tossed 6 ¹⁄₃ innings of four-hit ball and allowed just one run as he bounced back from a loss to the Mariners last week with one of his better outings of the season. Paramount to his success was allowing just one walk while striking out four.

The Texas bullpen also went 2 ²⁄₃ scoreless innings in the win with Tony Barnette, Matt Bush, Jake Diekman, and Alex Claudio doing the heavy lifting to secure the win.

Up Next: While the Twins will play the Yankees and the Angels will play the Indians, the Rangers and Mariners slap fight for a crumb of the hope sandwhich in the second game of this series. Andrew Cashner will take the mound for Texas to do battle with Felix Hernandez. First pitch from Safeco is scheduled for 9:10 pm CT.