Texas Rangers 5, San Francisco Giants 0

Terrific effort from the bullpen allows Texas to win tough road series.

The Texas Rangers closed out a tough road trip with a win Sunday afternoon in San Francisco, defeating the Giants 5-0. The win improved Texas to 35-26, three games ahead of the surging LA Angels for first place in the AL West. San Francisco fell to 34-27.

Photo not provided by the San Francisco Giants

Lincecum's pitching has caused many emergency runs to the grocery store this season.

Rangers starter Alexi Ogando, filling in for an incapacitated Derek Holland, threw three perfect innings before leaving with a strained groin from outrunning a bunt single in the fourth. Reliever Robbie Ross came in and shut down the Giants as well, allowing just one hit and no walks while striking out two over four innings. Mike Adams and Joe Nathan pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings to close out the game. Ross was credited with the win and is now 6-0 with a 1.30 ERA on the season.

Giants ace and World Series Ranger-killer Tim Lincecum was awful, giving up five runs on nine hits over just five-plus innings. Lincecum, who won the clinching Game Five of the World Series two years ago, fell to 2-7 on the season with a 6.00 ERA.

Texas opened the scoring in the third when Elvis Andrus tripled, then scored on Adrian Beltre's double. The next inning, Texas hit three straight singles to load the bases, including Ogando's perfectly-placed bunt. Ian Kinsler then doubled in Mitch Moreland and Craig Gentry to make it 3-0.

In the sixth, Ross and Andrus got on base thanks to fielder's choices, then both scored on Josh Hamilton's two-run RBI double to make it 5-0. Hamilton now has 61 RBI, ten more than any other hitter in baseball.

Texas now heads back to Arlington for a six-game homestand that starts Tuesday night against the 30-30 Arizona Diamondbacks. The Rangers finished their ten-game West Coast road trip with a disappointing 4-6 record.