Ponson goes 8 innings for first victory in year, Rangers beat Royals 2-1 to win another series
By STEPHEN HAWKINS | Associated Press | May 1, 08 4:54 PM CDT in
Sports
Sidney Ponson got his first victory in a year and the Texas Rangers finished off a successful homestand with Ron Washington still their manager, beating the Kansas City Royals 2-1 on Thursday.
Ian Kinsler hit a leadoff homer in the first and Ramon Vazquez hit a tiebreaking drive in the sixth off Zack Greinke (3-1).
The Rangers took two-of-three from both Minnesota and Kansas City during the homestand, which began after a miserable road trip and a meeting of owner Tom Hicks, president Nolan Ryan and general manager Jon Daniels about the team's direction. Texas (11-18) set a team record with 18 losses in April, and still has the worst record in the majors.
Ponson (1-0) went eight innings in his second start for the Rangers, benefiting from two double plays and picking off a runner to face the minimum three batters in the fourth through seventh innings. The 31-year-old right-hander struck out five and walked two while throwing 76 of his 108 pitches for strikes.
The last victory for Ponson had come May 1, 2007 _ a year ago Thursday _ while pitching for Minnesota against Tampa Bay. He made only two more starts for the Twins before getting released, then signed a minor league deal with Texas this spring.
C.J. Wilson worked a perfect ninth for his sixth save in seven chances.
Washington has an 86-105 record in his second season, his first managerial job after 11 seasons as a coach in Oakland, where Texas begins a three-game series Friday night. Since sweeping a doubleheader at home on April 10 to go to 5-4, the only time the Rangers have had a winning record under Washington, Texas has lost 14 of 20 games.
Greinke scattered four hits without any walks and struck out nine, fanning All-Star shortstop Michael Young three times. Greinke's ERA actually rose, from 1.25 to 1.47, still second-best in the American League.
Kinsler led off against Greinke by lining a 1-1 pitching into the left-field seats for his second leadoff homer of the season. Vazquez followed with a single.
After that, Greinke retired 12 straight _ half of those on strikeouts _ until rookie Brandon Boggs singled leading off the fifth. The only other batter to reach base against the Royals right-hander was Vazquez, who hit a one-out homer in the sixth to make it 2-1.
Young, who entered the game with a .420 career average as the designated hitter, had his 14-game hitting streak snapped. That was the longest active hitting streak, and matched Boston's Dustin Pedroia for the longest in the AL this season.
Notes:@ The Rangers had planned to use Milton Bradley in RF on Thursday, which would have been the first time since knee surgery last year that he would have played consecutive games in the field. But he came out of Wednesday night's game with a hamstring cramp, and didn't play Thursday. Washington said Bradley was fine and would play Friday.
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