Hamilton has feast Texas Rangers can savor
Game 1 of the Lone Star Series went to the Texas Rangers on Friday night, and Round 1 of the Lance Berkman-Josh Hamilton showdown decisively went to the Rangers’ center fielder.
Hamilton had the best game of his brief big-league career, going 5-for-5 with two home runs and five RBI as the Rangers outlasted Houston 16-8 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
His bat was the biggest on a night when the Rangers had a season high in runs, had a season-best six homers among 17 hits and were the beneficiaries of five Astros errors and seven unearned runs before a crowd of 32,117.
Much of the talk afterward, though, was about Hamilton.
“He’s incredible,” right fielder David Murphy said. “You saw pretty much everything he can do tonight. I think it’s not a stretch to say he’s one of the best players in baseball.”
Hamilton, the AL’s player of the month in April, had career highs in hits and RBI, and his two home runs traveled an estimated 866 feet. He also made a nifty catch to end the fourth inning.
He has 10 homers and 49 RBI, which leads the majors. He has an AL-best 103 total bases, 13 of which came Friday. He’s the first Rangers’ player to have 13 in a game since Juan Gonzalez in 1999.
“That is how you play the game right there,” said Hamilton, who is hitting .314. “Some days you want to strangle people when you might not be doing so well. Then, you have games like that.”
Murphy got the Rangers going with a two-out RBI single in a three-run first. After the Astros scored two in the second, Hamilton hit a solo shot over the Rangers’ bullpen in the third that went an estimated 415 feet.
The Rangers scored four more in the fourth. The first came on a Jarrod Saltalamacchia homer, which traveled 440 feet. Hamilton followed soon after with his second, a three-run shot that went 451 feet.
“I said right before I went up, ‘I better hit one a little bit farther or he’s going to be ragging me all night,’” Hamilton said. “I got one.”
The Rangers were up 8-2, but Houston responded with five runs in the fifth. Nine Astros batted, and the inning ended only when Carlos Lee was thrown out at home as the potential tying run.
Berkman had a single off the leg of Sidney Ponson during the rally and finished 2-for-4.
Houston tied the game in the sixth, but the Rangers claimed the lead in the seventh thanks to Ian Kinsler.
He walked, stole second, and scored the go-ahead run on a disputed play after a Michael Young single. Replays showed that Kinsler was safe at home, but Astros manager Cecil Cooper argued and was ejected by first-base umpire Angel Hernandez.
Hamilton followed with his fifth hit, a triple, that put the Rangers up 10-8.
Then came the Rangers’ eighth. It started when Murphy — who was 3-for-6 with three RBI — homered to right, and didn’t end until Brandon Boggs grounded out 10 batters later. Included were homers by Chris Shelton and Young, and a walk to Hamilton that didn’t please the crowd.
“It’s one of those things where I’m glad I didn’t get out of what I wanted to do, and that was have a good at-bat,” Hamilton said. “I didn’t try to do too much.”
Tags: beneficiaries, best game, career highs, center fielder, Feast, game 1, home runs, homers, jarrod saltalamacchia, josh hamilton, juan gonzalez, lance berkman, league career, lone star, majors, rangers ballpark in arlington, rbi, right fielder, star series, texas rangers