ARLINGTON, Texas - Josh Hamilton was given one of the highest levels of respect a slugger can get from an opposing manager in Sunday's 7-4 loss to Tampa Bay: He was walked with the bases loaded.
Hamilton, with 28 homers and 113 RBI on the season, came up in the bottom of the ninth as the potential tying run. Rays manager Joe Maddon unconventionally walked him to score Chris Davis and bring up Marlon Byrd as the potential winning run.
Reliever Dan Wheeler struck out Byrd to end the game.
"Just looking at potential risk factor I could much more easily envision or imagine Hamilton tying it up than the alternatives," Maddon said. "Based on all the stuff there we chose to walk him, even though Byrd was 2-for-3 with an extra base hit recently against Wheels. I just wanted to go that way. I didn't want to see Hamilton there. I mean, listen, it's his year, and why not have him hit a grand slam right there and really screw up ours."
The decision worked. Manager Ron Washington said the last time he could remember that happening was when former Rangers manager Buck Showalter walked Barry Bonds with the bases loaded on May 28, 1998 when Showalter was managing the Diamondbacks. The move worked for Showalter too.
It was the Rangers' ninth loss in their last 11 games. They lost their third consecutive series to drop to 62-63. While pitching takes most of the blame for the club's August slide, it doesn't mean the offense isn't culpable.
The Rangers scored just 11 runs in their last five games and are batting .212 in that span. In the last 11 games, despite scoring 32 combined runs in consecutive games in Baltimore and Boston, the club is averaging just over four runs per game, nearly a run and a half below the season average. And they've been shut out in four of those games. The Rangers had some two-out chances on Sunday but couldn't capitalize as Scott Kazmir had seven strikeouts and gave up two runs in six innings.
"We can't score 10 runs every night," Michael Young said. "We ran into some good pitching here and in Baltimore and Boston. We need to make some adjustments and turn it around. We always do."
Kinsler has groin injury:
2B Ian Kinsler hurt his left groin in the first inning and came out of the game after the seventh inning. He will be evaluated on Monday.
Padilla to start Tuesday: RHP Vicente Padilla said he felt good after throwing around 45 pitches in a bullpen on Sunday and is ready to start on Tuesday against Detroit. Pitching coach Andy Hawkins said Padilla was a little rusty, but his location wasn't bad.
Briefly: RHP Brandon McCarthy went seven shutout innings and allowed no runs on three hits with seven strikeouts and a walk for Triple-A Oklahoma on Sunday. He could get the start for the Rangers on Saturday. . . . OF Milton Bradley was scratched with back stiffness.
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(c) 2008, The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Mclatchy-Tribune News Service.
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