Texas Rangers 7, Atlanta Braves 5

by PegNews wire

ARLINGTON — The Texas Rangers beat their former trading partners on a rain-logged Tuesday evening, defeating the Atlanta Braves 7-5 at Rangers Ballpark. The win improved the Rangers to 36-36 on the season.

Photo not provided by the Atlanta Braves

Pictured: Teixeira celebrates his awesome .440 slugging percentage

The long-awaited return of former Rangers All-Star Mark Teixeira was somewhat disappointing, as the fading slugger managed to go just 0-for-2 with a walk and an RBI sacrifice fly, and is hitting a meagre .269 with ten home runs in his first full season away from Texas. Teixeira was traded from Texas last year after declining a massive multi-year, $120 million deal with the Rangers.

Rangers starter Vicente Padilla kept the Braves hitters off balance all night, even Ted Williams clone Chipper Jones, who also finished just 0-for-2 to drop his season batting average to .400. Padilla lasted six innings and gave up just two runs --only one of them earned-- while improving his record to 9-3 with a 3.73 ERA. Padilla allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out four.

After Eddie Guardado gave up three runs to the Braves in the eighth, C.J. Wilson pitched a scoreless ninth for his 14th save of the season.

The Teixeira-less Rangers hitters performed pretty well against Atlanta's Tim Hudson, as only two Rangers starters finished without a hit --Michael Young and David Murphy-- and both of those two managed to drive in runs. Josh Hamilton went 1-for-2 with two walks and a towering solo home run in the first inning that set the tone for the rest of the game.

Milton Bradley had a two-run single in the bottom of the third, but appeared to injure himself on the play.

Posted by Todd M.