KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Scott Feldman’s sharp turnaround has been a huge boost for the Texas Rangers.
The right-hander won his sixth straight decision, Josh Hamilton drove in two runs and Texas defeated the Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Saturday night.
Feldman (6-6) worked into the eighth inning and became the first pitcher in 29 years to win six consecutive decisions after starting the season 0-6. Doyle Alexander did it in 1983 with the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays.
“I’ve just sort of gone about my business and felt the same way the whole year,” Feldman said. “It’s just nice to get an opportunity to go in there and help out and keep my focus on that, making good pitches.”
Feldman went 17-9 in 2009, but knee injuries the past two seasons set him back. This year, he returned to the rotation because of injuries to Rangers starters Neftali Feliz and Colby Lewis.
“It’s been very timely,” manager Ron Washington said. “He’s been our security blanket, really. Things go wrong in the rotation and we’ve been able to just plug him and he eats up innings. He’s executing his pitches really well.”
Hamilton, who leads the majors with 90 RBIs, hit an opposite-field single in the third inning to score Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus. Kinsler singled with one out and went to third on Andrus’ double.
Mike Olt, called up Thursday from Double-A, added two RBIs for the AL West leaders.
With closer Joe Nathan unavailable, Alexi Ogando worked around two singles in the ninth to earn his third save.
“It’s like the ‘09 Feldman,” Hamilton said. “He’s throwing the ball good, mixing his pitches up well. He’s getting the job done. He’s keeping the ball down. He’s not throwing it over the middle of the plate. Everything has got so much movement on it.”
Feldman, who was 3-0 with a 1.96 ERA in July, held Kansas City to six hits and two runs over 7 2-3 innings. The Royals, who lost for the 23rd time in 32 games, scored twice in the fifth on groundouts by Chris Getz and Alex Gordon.
“We did a pretty good job against him,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “He had a tremendous two-seamer, a tremendous splitter and a tremendous curve. He was really hard to hit and I think we did a good job of getting some hits off him.”
Olt, who had 28 home runs and 82 RBIs with Double-A Frisco before his promotion, hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth and an RBI single with two outs in the sixth.
“A big sac fly, a big hit up the middle with two outs,” Washington said. “That was huge. That gave us a little bit more of a cushion.”
Royals rookie Will Smith (2-4) gave up four runs and eight hits over 5 2-3 innings in losing his third straight start.
The Rangers could have scored more runs in the third if not for a gaffe on the bases.
Hamilton stopped at second on Adrian Beltre’s single before Nelson Cruz’s grounder caromed off the glove of shortstop Alcides Escobar for an error. The Royals, however, converted that into a double play when Beltre was caught between second and third and tagged out. Cruz attempted to go to second on the play and was out to end the inning.
“We could have put more on the board in the third inning, but it just wasn’t to be,” Washington said.