STEPHEN HAWKINS
AP Sports Writer
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Rangers starter Colby Lewis wasn’t surprised to see interim manager Tim Bogar walking toward the mound with Kole Calhoun about to bat in the eighth inning.
Calhoun led off the game for the Los Angeles Angels with a homer, and Lewis retired him on a hard liner and a deep fly ball.
“I hated to have to take him out there,” Bogar said. “But we got to that point where Calhoun’s been taking some pretty good swings off him.”
Even though reliever Michael Kirkman struck out Calhoun, the Angels went on to a seven-run outburst in a 9-3 victory Tuesday night. They have won six in a row.
The eighth started with Collin Cowgill reaching against Lewis (9-13) on an infield hit, when the No. 9 batter took a full swing for a slow chopper. Third baseman Adrian Beltre cleanly fielded the ball, but didn’t even make a throw to first base.
“An inch either way, it’s either a swing-and-miss, or it’s hit hard enough to where (Beltre) gets him out,” Lewis said.
By the time Cowgill came up again later in the inning, and hit a three-run triple, the Angels led 9-1.
Six batters in a row reached against two more relievers, with Robbie Ross greeted by Erick Aybar’s two-run double. Ross then issued a bases-loaded walk before Cowgill’s hit down the right-field line.
The Angels, with the best record in the majors at 89-55, matched their longest winning streak of the season. The AL West leaders have won 12 of 14 overall.
Hector Santiago (5-7) allowed only a solo homer in five innings.
Beltre had three hits and scored twice. He homered to straightaway center in the fourth, then singled in the eighth before scoring on Ryan Rua’s two-run double.
The Rangers (54-90) have the worst record in the majors and are 35 games behind Los Angeles. The last time they were that far back in a division race was their 43-game deficit behind Seattle at the end of the 2001 season.
Just more than a year after Lewis had hip resurfacing surgery, a procedure just short of a full hip replacement, he pitched at least seven innings for the third start in a row. He allowed three runs, two earned. The right-hander leads the Rangers with 26 starts and 151 1-3 innings pitched.
“The adaption period, I guess, is over, and just going out there, like I’ve always said, trying to keep my team in the game as long as I can,” Lewis said. “Individual stuff is whatever. I want the team to win.”
FINALLY IN THE BIGS
After 13 seasons and 1,095 games in the minors, switch-hitting utilityman Guilder Rodriguez made his major league debut when he started at second base and batted ninth for the Rangers.
The 31-year-old Rodriguez, called up Sunday after Double-A Frisco was eliminated from the playoffs, had the most minor league games for any current player without playing in the majors. Rodriguez had a defensive highlight with a diving catch to his left to snag Calhoun’s liner for an out in the third. At the plate, he struck out all three times.
WHERE’S ELVIS?
SS Elvis Andrus was out of the Rangers’ lineup for the second game in a row. Bogar said the extra day off for Andrus was to allow Luis Sardinas to play with former minor league teammate Rodriguez. Andrus had missed only one game before Sunday.
“He’s in the lineup every day pretty much from here on out,” Bogar said of Andrus, who has dealt with inflammation in his elbow all season, along with some other nagging issues. But Andrus said, “physically, I’m good to play.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Angels: OF Josh Hamilton missed his fifth game in a row because of a sore right shoulder that is starting to concern manager Mike Scioscia.
Rangers: C Robinson Chirinos (neck stiffness) took batting practice and could be close to playing again after missing his eighth game in a row. … OF Engel Beltre, out all season with a broken bone in his right leg, is scheduled for surgery Wednesday on a stress fracture in his left leg.
UP NEXT
Rookie RHP Matt Shoemaker (14-4) goes for his 15th win and the Angels try to become the first 90-win team in the majors in the middle game of the three-game set. RHP Nick Tepesch (4-9) starts for the Rangers. He has allowed three earned runs or fewer six times in his last seven games.
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