Rangers down Angels after pitcher ejected
DALLAS (Reuters) - The Texas Rangers defeated Los Angeles 5-3 Saturday to notch their sixth consecutive win after Angels starting pitcher John Lackey was ejected after throwing just two pitches.
Lackey, returning from an arm injury, threw behind Rangers leadoff batter Ian Kinsler to open the game, then hit Kinsler in the left side, bringing a quick ejection from home plate umpire Bob Davidson.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia protested to no avail.
"I don't know what that was all about or what (Lackey) was trying to prove," Kinsler told reporters.
Lackey denied trying to hit Kinsler.
"I haven't pitched in six weeks, man," Lackey said. "I was obviously trying to come in on him. There was no intention whatsoever to throw behind him or hit him."
The Rangers took advantage of seven singles, two walks and a hit batsman to win for the 12th time in 14 games. They lead the Angels by 3.5 games in the American League West.
"Those are the things we need to do to win ballgames," third baseman Michael Young said. "We're not going to hit four home runs every night, so we have to manufacture runs. We take pride in being a versatile offense."
Young's run-scoring single broke a 3-3 tie in the fourth inning and Josh Hamilton, the next batter, made it 5-3 on a sacrifice fly.
Chone Figgins' scored the Angels' opening run off Vicente Padilla's wild pitch.
Texas leveled the score through Hamilton's sacrifice fly to left at the bottom of the first, then took a 3-1 lead in the second on Jarrod Saltalamacchia's two-run single.
RBI singles by Juan Rivera and Figgins pulled the Angels level at the top of the fourth before Texas rebounded with two in the bottom of the inning.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; Editing by Ian Ransom)
