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ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Texas Rangers' offense struggled on a cold night and starter Justin Grimm missed with one pitch as The Chicago White Sox won 3-1 at frigid Rangers Ballpark to hand Texas its first series loss of the season.

Offense flails: The Rangers had three hits, one Adrian Beltre's home run in the second inning. They were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position with Beltre failing to come through in the first two situations. The Rangers had the tying runs on base in the ninth inning and Mitch Moreland struck out on three pitches and Leonys Martin fanned to end the game.

One pitch costs Grimm: Justin Grimm, earlier awarded American League Rookie of the Month, dominated the White Sox for most of the night, except for four walks. He was in cruise control until the top of the sixth before he gave up singles to Conor Gillaspie and Alexei Ramirez and a three-run home run on a curve ball that didn't bite enough to catcher Tyler Flowers, his fourth of the year. Grimm tied a career-high nine strikeouts and had retired 10 in a row before Gillaspie's hit.

Beltre's latest miss: Beltre accounted for the Rangers only run with a solo shot to start the second inning. But it was a big miss with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the sixth that stood out in this game. Beltre got down in the count and fisted a ground ball to third base for an inning-ending double play. He also had the tying runs on base in the bottom of the eighth and struck out on a 72-mph curve ball by Ranger nemesis Jesse Crain. Beltre is 4-for-34 with runners in scoring position.

Clean shave works: Left-handed reliever Michael Kirkman is clean shaven after allowing runs in four of his past six appearances. He faced one batter Thursday night in the seventh inning, Adam Dunn, and struck the slugger out on three pitches.

Dog night: There were 689 canines in attendance for Dog Night at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Overall attendance was 31,199 for a game that had a game time attendance of 43 degrees, the third coldest start in ballpark history.

Up next: The Rangers open a three-game series against the team with baseball's best record, the Boston Red Sox. Left-hander Derek Holland (1-2, 3.38 ERA) will face Red Sox left-hander Felix Doubront (3-0, 4.24) at 7:05 p.m. on Channel 21 and ESPN-FM 103.3 and 1540-AM.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Nick Tepesch allowed two home runs in the top of the seventh as the Chicago White Sox snapped a 2-2 tie and beat the Texas Rangers 5-2 on Wednesday night at Rangers Ballpark.

Rough seventh for Tepesch: For the second straight start, rookie Nick Tepesch had a rough seventh inning. He allowed two home runs with the game tied at two. White Sox third baseman Conor Gillaspie led off the inning with a 384-foot home run to right-center field. With two outs, leadoff hitter Alejandro De Aza smacked a two-run home run to right field for a 5-2 lead. Tepesch had allowed two home runs in 27⅓ innings before Wednesday's seventh inning.

Too long with Nick?: Rangers manager Ron Washington stuck with Tepesch after Gillaspie's tiebreaking home run even though the right-hander was around 100 pitches. The White Sox made the Rangers pay with De Aza's two-out homer for a three-run lead.

Eighth-inning threat crumbles: The Rangers hadn't scored against White Sox reliever Jesse Crain in 27⅓ innings before Wednesday night. They had one of their best shots at him after Elvis Andrus and Lance Berkman led off with singles. But Adrian Beltre continued his struggles with a fly out to center but did move Andrus to third. Nelson Cruz struck out on a high fastball. Sox left-handed reliever Matt Thornton came in and got David Murphy to ground out back to the pitcher.

Baserunning gaffe: The Rangers should have scored more in the bottom of the second. With the bases loaded, Ian Kinsler just missed a grand slam, as his line drive to left field hit off the top of the wall. The Rangers scored just one run because Geovany Soto didn't score from second base.

Beltre scuffles: Beltre, who had a two-run home run in his last at-bat Tuesday night, failed to get a hit with a runner at second base and two outs in the first inning. Beltre is four for his past 31 with runners in scoring position.

Frasor improving: Reliever Jason Frasor retired all four batters he faced with two strikeouts. Frasor hasn't allowed a run in his past six innings.

Up next: The Rangers and White Sox wrap up their three-game series Thursday night when rookie right-hander Justin Grimm (2-0, 1.59 ERA) takes on veteran right-hander Jake Peavy (3-1, 3.38 ERA) at 7:05 p.m. on Fox Sports Southwest and ESPN 103.3-FM and 1540-AM.

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Texas Rangers were shut out for just the second time and lost back-to-back games for the first time this season as the Minnesota Twins won 5-0 on Sunday.

Walks will haunt: Rangers starter Alexi Ogando walked Josh Willingham twice Sunday, and Willingham scored both times. He was walked with one out in the fourth inning and came home on a Chris Parmelee sacrifice fly two batters later. Ogando walked Willingham with two outs in the sixth inning, but Justin Morneau hit his next offering into the right-field seats for a two-run homer.

Ogando still managed a quality start, allowing three runs on four hits and two walks in six innings with three strikeouts. After giving up just two earned runs in his first three starts this season, Ogando has allowed 10 in his past three. The right-hander is 0-2 with a 5.87 ERA in that stretch.

Still undefeated: The Rangers appeared poised to win their sixth series of the season by taking the first two against Minnesota but settled for a series split after losses Saturday and Sunday. Texas is still undefeated in series play this season with a 5-0-3 mark.

Runs at a premium: The Rangers scored two runs or less in three of their four games against Minnesota and just eight total in the four-game series. Their only lower series mark was six runs, but that was in a two-game set against the Chicago Cubs.

Texas went 0-for-5 Sunday and just 4-for-31 in the series with runners in scoring position.

Basepath blunders: Mitch Moreland continued a disturbing trend of Texas making outs on the basepaths. Moreland singled with one out in the third inning when Aaron Hicks misplayed his fly ball. But Moreland ran halfway to second base before turning around as Hicks recovered and threw to Brian Dozier. Dozier quickly relayed to Morneau, who tagged Moreland for the second out. Leonys Martin followed with a single, so instead of two on with one out, there was one on with two out. Ian Kinsler ended the inning with a groundout to second.

The Rangers made seven outs on the bases in the first three games against the Twins.

Solving Mauer: Twins catcher Joe Mauer entered the series with Texas hitting .366, but Rangers pitching held him to 0-for-15 in the four games to drop his average to .302.

Ortiz struggles: Joe Ortiz entered the series with a 1.42 ERA but saw that number jump to 4.05 after allowing four runs in two appearances (2/3 IP). The left-hander had allowed just two earned runs in his first eight outings.

Daydreaming: Sunday’s loss dropped the Rangers to 3-6 in day games this season. Texas is 13-3 at night.

Up next: The Rangers start a three-game set against the Chicago White Sox in Arlington as right-hander Yu Darvish (4-1, 1.65 ERA) takes the hill against Chicago left-hander Jose Quintana (2-0, 2.78 ERA) at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday night on Fox Sports Southwest and ESPN 103.3 FM and 1540 AM.

Derek Holland gave the Texas Rangers another quality start, but the Minnesota Twins used a Josh Willingham two-run home run to pull away for a 7-2 victory on Saturday afternoon at Target Field In Minneapolis.

Holland snakebit: Holland had his fourth quality start in five games this season, allowing three runs in seven innings. An unearned run put him behind 1-0 in the third inning. Willinhgam's homer with two outs in the bottom of the sixth on a slider that stayed up the strike zone gave the Twins a 3-0 lead.

Offense stalled: The Rangers couldn't solve the riddle that was Twins left-hander Pedro Hernandez. Making his third career start, Hernandez had five shutout innings. He caught a big break in the top of the third when Ian Kinsler had a ground rule double on a ball that hopped over the left-center field fence. Leury Garcia, at first base after a single, would have scored easily. The Rangers still had runners at second and third and one out but Craig Gentry lined out to shortstop and Adrian Beltre to left field.

No clutch hits: The Rangers were 1-for-8 for the game with runners in scoring position and are now 4-for-25 for the series against Twins pitching.

Baserunning mishaps: The Rangers made three outs on the bases in Friday's 4-3 loss and made two more on Saturday. Craig Gentry was caught stealing in the first inning and Nelson Cruz was out trying to stretch a single into a double in the second inning.

Kirkman struggles: Reliever Michael Kirkman allowed three runs in the bottom of the eighth. He allowed four hits, including the first extra base hit of the season for Twins outfielder Aaron Hicks.

Avoiding the shutout: The Rangers were nearly shutout for the second time this season, but Mitch Moreland's two-run double on a misplayed ball in center field by Hicks allowed the Rangers to cut the lead to 7-2. The only time the Rangers have been shutout was April 10 by Tampa Bay.

Up next: The Rangers try to win three out of four games from the Twins when right-hander Alexi Ogando (2-1, 3.12 ERA) faces Minnesota right-hander Kevin Correia (2-1, 2.86 ERA) at 1:10 p.m. Sunday afternoon on FSSW and ESPN-FM 103.3 and 1540-AM.

The Texas Rangers witnessed another great outing by one of their young starting pitchers -- this time Justin Grimm -- as they won their second straight game over the Minnesota Twins, 4-3, on Friday night at Target Field.

Grimm cruises: Grimm followed up on fellow rookie Nick Tepesch's brilliant start on Thursday night with seven shutout innings. Following Tepesch's lead, Grimm had total command of the strike zone with no walks. He allowed five hits and had four strikeouts. Grimm has two walks in his past 13 innings.

First-inning runs: The Rangers jumped on the Twins with three first-inning doubles that helped build a 2-0 lead. Elvis Andrus had a one-out double, stole third and scored on Lance Berkman's double to center field. Nelson Cruz made it six straight games with an RBI as he went to the opposite field once again with a double to right field.

Cruz stays hot: Cruz is the third player boasting six straight games with an RBI this season in the majors, joining the Detroit Tigers' Prince Fielder and the Cincinnati Reds' Todd Frazier. It ties a career high that he's accomplished four times.

Beltre hammers another one: Adrian Beltre is starting to hit the ball with authority. He crushed a home run to straightaway center field to give Texas a 3-0 lead in the sixth inning. Beltre has seven hits in his past 24 at-bats, including two of his four home runs.

Outs on the bases: The Rangers made three outs on the bases as they didn't get as much out of their 13 hits as they could have. They made two outs on the bases in the third inning, as Andrus was thrown out at home and Berkman got hung up and was out at third base for the second out of the inning.

Rough ninth: Left-hander Joe Ortiz started the bottom of the ninth with a four-run lead and allowed a double to Josh Willingham and a soft single to Justin Morneau. Ortiz did strike out Chris Parmelee for the first out and turned the game over to closer Joe Nathan. He got the second out, fanning Trevor Plouffe, then allowed a three-run homer to Oswaldo Arcia to make things interesting. Nathan was able to bounce back and get Ryan Doumit to line out to center fielder Craig Gentry to end the game.

What scheduling issue?: The Rangers were supposed to be sluggish in the second game after a late plane flight from Anaheim to Minneapolis, but they haven't shown it in this series, winning two one-run games.

Up next: The Rangers go for three wins in a row over the Twins when left-hander Derek Holland (1-1, 3.25 ERA) takes on Minnesota left-hander Pedro Hernandez (0-0, 3.86 ERA) at 3:10 p.m. Saturday on FSSW and ESPN-FM 103.3 and 1270-AM.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Nelson Cruz broke his bat on a three-run homer to cap a nine-run fourth inning, guiding the Texas Rangers to a series victory against the Los Angeles Angels with a 11-3 win on Wednesday night.

Floodgates, opened: The Rangers chased rookie left-hander Michael Roth -- a ninth-round selection in last year's draft making his first career start -- in the fourth, sending 13 batters to the plate on the strength of five walks. Cruz delivered the dagger, lifting the first pitch he saw from David Carpenter over the wall in left-center field. Before beginning his trip around the bases, Cruz smiled toward the dugout and gestured that his bat had cracked.

A long frame: The nine runs in the fourth were the most scored by Texas in an inning since Aug. 22, 2012 against Baltimore, the most runs in a road game inning since Aug. 22, 2007, and the most plate appearances in an inning since April of last year.

Ace comes through: For the fourth time this season, Yu Darvish followed a Rangers loss with a win. The right-hander had been 3-0 with a 1.31 ERA pitching in games after a Rangers loss, and surely improved those numbers with six shutout innings Wednesday. Texas is still the only team in baseball that hasn't lost two straight games.

How Yu did it: Darvish had a pitch clocked as high as 98 mph and as low as 61 to keep Angels hitters off balance yet again. He struck out 11, reaching double-digit punchouts for the 11th time in his career and improving his career record against the Halos to 5-1, including 3-1 at Angel Stadium.

Berkman gets his second: Lance Berkman homered for the first time since April 7 and registered his first multihit game since April 9. Before the game, manager Ron Washington said this weekend's weather conditions in Minnesota would determine whether the switch-hitting Berkman, 37, gets a day off, but the designated hitter appears to be finding his groove.

Up next: Nick Tepesch (1-1, 3.07 ERA) looks to bounce back from last week's abrupt ending. Twins right-hander Vance Worley (0-2, 7.11 ERA) is scheduled to take the mound in the opener of the four-game set. First pitch is 7:10 p.m. CT on Fox Sports Southwest, ESPN-FM 103.3 and 1540 AM.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Texas Rangers finished off their first three-game sweep of the season with a 11-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners at Rangers Ballpark. The Rangers, who moved into first place in the American League West, have won five series and split two this season.

Grimm has career day: Rookie right-hander Justin Grimm could easily have had six shutout innings Sunday. He settled for one earned run allowed and a career-high nine strikeouts. Grimm used a curveball and 4-seam fastball to dice up the Mariners. He did his best work in the top of the fifth, after the offense had given him a 3-1 lead. The inning started poorly with a leadoff single by Mariners No. 9 hitter Brendan Ryan and a double by Endy Chavez that was misplayed in center field by Leonys Martin. But Grimm kept the tying run at second base with the Mariners' 2-3-4 hitters coming up, striking out the side.

Offense revs up: The Rangers scored a season-high 11 runs. They produced their season high in runs twice in the series, first matching their season-best total in their 7-0 victory on Friday and then with Friday's first double-digit total in 18 games this season.

Martin's first HR: Martin belted his first home run of the season, a 377-foot solo shot to right-center field to tie the game at 1-1 in the third inning. Martin also had a triple as he had his second two-hit game of the season. The Rangers now have three RBIs from their center fielders, all in this series against the Mariners.

Moreland breaks through: First baseman Mitch Moreland snapped out of a 1-for-20 stretch with a two-run home run to straight-away center field to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Moreland's third homer of the season came with two outs and after Nelson Cruz had reached on a single.

Cruz slams door: Cruz swatted the fifth grand slam of his career to give the Rangers an 8-2 lead in the fifth and basically put the game out of reach. Cruz has hit all of his grand slams at Rangers Ballpark. It was the Ranger's first slam since Aug. 22, 2011 by Moreland.

Making most of HRs: The Rangers had hit 15 of their 19 home runs with no one on base after Martin's solo shot in the third inning. Their next three long balls came with runners on. Moreland had a two-run shot, Cruz had a grand slam and Adrian Beltre had a two-run homer.

Andrus ends drought: Shortstop Elvis Andrus was hitless in his previous 13 at-bats before he lined a solid single into right field in the first inning. Andrus was 1-for-4 with a run scored.

Up next: The Rangers begin a seven-game road trip in Anaheim against the Los Angeles Angels. Sizzling left-hander Derek Holland (1-1, 1.64 ERA) will start the opener against Angels right-hander Joe Blanton (0-3, 8.59). Game time is 9:05 p.m. CT on FSSW and on ESPN-FM 103.3 and 1540-AM.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Rangers survived an injury to starting pitcher Nick Tepesch, getting home runs from A.J. Pierzynski and David Murphy and four hitless innings from reliever Derek Lowe for a 5-0 victory over Seattle on Saturday night at Rangers Ballpark.

Tepesch knocked out: The rookie Tepesch was removed from the game after he took a line drive off his right wrist with two outs in the second inning. He was diagnosed by Dr. Keith Meister with a right wrist contusion and will be further evaluated on Sunday. Tepesch had three strikeouts through 1⅔ innings in his third big league start.

Lowe comes through: Derek Lowe entered the game in an emergency situation and was lights out. Lowe, who had a 4.91 ERA coming into Saturday, produced four hitless innings. He did it the Derek Lowe way, using his sinker to get ground balls. Lowe picked up eight outs on ground balls, including a double play to erase the lone runner he put on by a hit batter. He lowered his ERA to 2.35.

Ortiz, Scheppers wobbly: Reliever Joe Ortiz and Tanner Scheppers each entered the game with two outs and no one on base and proceeded to put the first two batters they faced on base. Ortiz was able to escape on a hard-hit ground ball by Mariners cleanup hitter Michael Morse to shortstop. Scheppers got out of his jam with a strikeout of Mariners No. 9 hitter Brendan Ryan.

Making the most: The Rangers had two hits off Mariners rookie Brandon Maurer in 6⅔ innings, but they made the most of them. Pierzynski had a home run to center field in the bottom of the fourth to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. David Murphy gave the Rangers an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh inning with a two-out solo shot to right-center field for a 2-0 lead.

Andrus struggles again: Shortstop Elvis Andrus made it 13 consecutive at-bats without a hit with an 0-for-4 game on Saturday. He also couldn't get a bunt down with runners at first and second with no outs in the bottom of the eighth. Then, he struck out after the runners had moved up to second and third on a passed ball.

Berkman, Pierzynski produces: Designated hitter Lance Berkman picked Andrus up, taking advantage of a drawn-in infield for a two-run single past a diving Dustin Ackley with one out to give the Rangers a 4-0 lead. Pierzynski followed with a run-scoring single up the middle for a 5-0 lead.

Home sweet home: The Rangers improved to 6-2 at home this season and have a .633 winning percentage at home since the start of the 2010 season, second only to the Yankees' .635 winning percentage at Yankee Stadium.

Up next: Another rookie starter takes the mound for the Rangers as right-hander Justin Grimm (0-0, 4.50 ERA) faces Mariners right-hander Aaron Harang (0-1, 5.40 ERA) at 2:05 p.m. Sunday afternoon. The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports Southwest and will be on the radio at ESPN-FM 103.3 and 1540-AM.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Rangers' offense finally broke out with a big inning, scoring six runs in the fifth inning to back Yu Darvish's pitching in a 7-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Six in fifth: The Rangers had gone 15 games without scoring four or more runs in an inning. But that changed in the bottom of the fifth with the Rangers leading 1-0. The Rangers scored six runs on five hits after Elvis Andrus started out the inning with a groundout. Catcher A.J. Pierzynski got the scoring started with a two-run single with the bases loaded for a 3-0 lead. David Murphy had an RBI groundout. Craig Gentry had a two-run triple on which he might have had a chance for an inside-the-park home run had third-base coach Gary Pettis not thrown up the stop sign. Ian Kinsler added an RBI double for a 7-0 lead.

Baker pays off Wash: Jeff Baker started at first base in place of Mitch Moreland to break up the left-handed bats at the bottom of the Rangers' lineup. Manager Ron Washington's decision paid off in the second inning in Baker's first at-bat. He crushed a 421-foot home run to right-center field for a 1-0 Rangers lead.

Yu dominates: Darvish has had his problems against Seattle, but not Friday night. Darvish had six strikeouts through two innings. He got three ground ball outs in the sixth. He allowed three hits in seven innings. He finished with 10 strikeouts for his third of victory of the season. He's 3-0 against Seattle at Rangers Ballpark.

10-K club: Darvish became the sixth pitcher in club history to strike out 10 or more in 10 games for his career. He tied Colby Lewis with 10 double-digit strikeout games. Nolan Ryan is the Rangers' leader with 34 games with 10 or more strikeouts. Bobby Witt is second with 24, followed by Gaylord Perry and Ferguson Jenkins with 11 each.

Murphy goes multi: Murphy had his first multi-hit game since April 10 against Tampa Bay. Murphy had a double in the second inning and single in the fourth. Both went to the opposite field.

Glove work: The left side of the Rangers infield went to work Friday night. Andrus made two beautiful plays up the middle. Adrian Beltre made a nice play to his left in the sixth inning.

Ross strong: Robbie Ross struck out the side in the eighth inning to get out of a bases-loaded jam. The Mariners struck out in order in three different innings in the game.

Up next: The Rangers will send rookie Nick Tepesch (1-1, 3.46 ERA) to the mound Saturday night against Mariners right-hander Brandon Maurer (1-2, 9.95 ERA). Game time is 7:05 p.m. on Fox Sports Southwest and ESPN-FM 103.3 and 1540-AM.

CHICAGO -- The Texas Rangers (9-6) fell 6-2 to the Chicago Cubs (5-9) to split what ended up being a two-game series after Wednesday's rainout. The Cubs got to Alexi Ogando early, with Anthony Rizzo and Alfonso Soriano delivering back-to-back home runs in a four-run third inning. Cubs starter Carlos Villanueva was strong for his third consecutive start, holding the Rangers to only two runs. Yu Darvish is scheduled to get the start Friday for the Rangers when they return home to open up a three-game set with the Seattle Mariners.

Inefficient Ogando: Ogando has struggled with high pitch counts early on in the season and Thursday was no exception. Ogando was able to work through his issues with minimal issues in his previous outings, but he couldn't find the same magic against the Cubs. He walked Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro in his first two plate on eight straight pitches. Castro came into the game with no walks in 58 plate appearances. The real damage was done on back-to back-home runs by Rizzo and Soriano in a four-run third. Ogando gave up multiple runs in an outing for the first time this season.

Bats struggle: Entering the day, the Rangers were 12th in the AL in runs scored, and they did little to improve their standing. Outside of a combined 4-for-7 from Nelson Cruz and Ian Kinsler (each had a single and a solo home run), the offense went a 0-for-21 with a walk against Cubs pitching.

Up next: The Rangers head back to Arlington for a three-game home stand against the Seattle Mariners. Yu Darvish heads to the mound on six days rest to face Joe Saunders at 7:05 p.m. Friday night on TXA-21 and ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM.

CHICAGO -- The Texas Rangers' Derek Holland was just another in a growing list of lefty starters to dominate the Chicago Cubs' lineup. Holland tossed seven innings of two-hit, shutout baseball, striking out six and walking none. The Cubs entered the night hitting .159/.229/.239 against left-handed starters on the season.

Benevolent breeze: The wind in Wrigley can be fickle, blowing out one night and in the next. On Tuesday, as good as both starters were, there's no doubt they were aided by a solid inward breeze that seemed to knock down many hard line drives. Numerous balls that sounded good off the bat died in the air well before reaching the warning track.

Baker's Wrigley return: During Jeff Baker's tenure with the Cubs, he was usually placed in the lineup when facing a lefty starter. And when that happened, he often produced. Baker filled in for the struggling David Murphy in left field and delivered once again, going 2-for-3 against Cubs starter Travis Wood, including an RBI double that opened the scoring on the evening.

Beltre's bat warming up: The majority of the Rangers' bats have been struggling through the first 13 games of the season. Beltre came into the game with a .224/.283/.327 line, but delivered a key double in the fourth, which led to him scoring the first run of the game. Beltre then blasted a two-run homer in the seventh, giving the Rangers a nice four-run cushion.

Up Next: Rookie Justin Grimm makes his second start of the season for the Rangers, taking on Carlos Villanueva at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday night at Wrigley Field.

The Rangers scored two runs in the top of the eighth to snap a 1-1 tie as the bullpen held on for a 3-1 victory over Seattle on Saturday night at Safeco Field.

Andrus delivers: Elvis Andrus has had a frustrating start to the season, hitting the baseball on the barrel several times and having outs to show for it as his averages hovers around .250. But he delivered yet another hit with a runner scoring position, this one a two-out single down the right-field line in the top of the eighth to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. Andrus is batting .333 with runners in scoring position.

Little Joe again: Rookie reliever Joe Ortiz is having a Robbie Ross start to the season. Remember Ross won four games in April in 2012. Well Ortiz has two victories in the Rangers' first 12 games this season. Ortiz pitched two more scoreless innings in the seventh and the eighth, putting himself in position for the victory.

Small ball works: The Rangers played for one run in the top of the sixth inning and it worked. Trailing 1-0 with their first two batters reaching base, manager Ron Washington went with the sacrifice bunt with Andrus up. He executed, putting two runners in scoring position. Adrian Beltre was then walked to load the bases, setting up Nelson Cruz. He hit into double play, but the Rangers scoring the tying run on a strange play in which Mariners first baseman Justin Smoak dropped Cruz's line drive and threw to second base to remove the force play and Leury Garcia scored before Ian Kinsler was tagged out between second and third base to end the inning.

Leury Leury: Another 22-year-old Ranger, Leury Garcia, made his first start Saturday and had single and also made three exceptional defensive plays, including fielding a ground ball up the middle in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Bullpen does work: The Rangers called on the bullpen for four more innings and they responded. Robbie Ross worked out of a sixth-inning jam. Ortiz gave up a hit in his two innings. And closer Joe Nathan had a perfect ninth inning for the win.

Ogando minimizes again: Alexi Ogando threw 98 pitches in five innings for a heavy workload. But the right-hander allowed a run or less for the third straight start. He allowed a run while striking out five and walking one.

Up next: The Rangers go for their fourth series win of the season when rookie right-hander Nick Tepesch takes the mound against Seattle right-hander Brandon Maurer. First pitch is 3:10 p.m. Sunday on FSSW.

Yu Darvish struggled early, giving up three runs in the first inning, and the Rangers couldn't rally in a 3-1 loss to the Seattle Mariners on Friday night at Safeco Field.

Rough beginning: Darvish hit Jason Bay with one out in the top of the first, and the inning unraveled from there. Darvish gave up singles to Kendrys Morales and Raul Ibanez. But the big blow came from Seattle third baseman Kyle Seager, who has owned Darvish early in his big league career. Seager came up with his fifth hit in 11 at-bats against Darvish, drilling a two-run double to give Seattle a 3-0 first-inning lead.

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Darvish settles down: Darvish, who has been dealing with a blister issue, followed his tough first with five no-hit innings. He had eight strikeouts and a walk. Darvish has a 2.75 ERA in three starts, but he lost for the first time Friday night.

Kinsler goes deep again: Ian Kinsler upped his team lead in home runs to four for the season with a solo shot in the top of the fourth. Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma retired the first nine batters he faced before Kinsler's homer. Kinsler took advantage of the new dimensions of Safeco Field, just clearing the left-field wall, which was moved in during the offseason.

Sixth-inning blues: Kinsler gave the Rangers a chance to scratch out a run trailing 3-1 in the top of the sixth. He ripped a single, stole second and moved to third on Elvis Andrus' ground ball to the left side. The rally died there. Lance Berkman, who had strikeouts in his first two at-bats, popped up to third base. Adrian Beltre, who is struggling to drive in runs, popped up to second base to end the inning.

Berkman struggles: Lance Berkman, who has been the Rangers' hottest hitter, had a night to forget. He struck out in his first two at-bats, then popped up on the infield in his other two at-bats. Berkman's batting average dropped below .400 to .394 on the season.

Not clutch: The Rangers were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. They had a runner in scoring position in each inning from the fifth to the eighth and couldn't break through.

Focus on CF: Leonys Martin and Craig Gentry both had chances to plate runs in the fifth and seventh innings after singles by A.J. Pierzynski and walks by Mitch Moreland. Martin grounded out to second base, and Gentry was called out on strikes after fouling off two hittable fastballs.

Up next: The Rangers and Mariners will play Game 3 of their four-game series at 8:10 p.m. Saturday night. Alexi Ogando (2-0, 0.77 ERA) will face Joe Saunders (1-1, 3.48 ERA) on Fox Sports Southwest.

SEATTLE -- David Murphy and Nelson Cruz drove in the go-ahead runs off Felix Hernandez with two outs in the fifth inning, reliever Robbie Ross came up huge in the seventh and eighth behind slogging, fill-in starter Justin Grimm, then Joe Nathan finished the ninth for his 301st career save in the Texas Rangers’ 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on a cold Thursday night at Safeco Field.

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How to topple a “King”: The Rangers spoiled the season home debut of Hernandez, who was pitching in Seattle for the first time since signing a seven-year, $175 million contract extension this winter. The Rangers ignored the gold “King’s Court” T-shirts, matching K cards and royal chants swirling from the 22,917 fans while whacking “The King” for eight hits and four runs in the first five innings.

Murphy’s two-out, RBI single broke a 2-2 tie. Then, Cruz golfed Hernandez’s split-fingered fastball into the left-field corner for a double that put Texas ahead 4-2 in the fifth.

The Rangers’ 10 hits in Hernandez’s 6⅔ innings were more than they had off him in all of 2012. He allowed them one run and nine hits combined in two victories last season.

The 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner lost for the fifth time in seven decisions against Texas dating to the 0-4 season he had against them in 2011.

The Rangers hit Hernandez hard early by being aggressive. A.J. Pierzynski’s second home run as a Ranger, in the second inning, was on the at-bat's first pitch. Mitch Moreland drove the next pitch on a line to deep left field, where Raul Ibanez misplayed it for an error. And Elvis Andrus’ single that scored Moreland came on an 0-1 pitch. Texas had batted around just 1⅓ innings into the game.

Preserving Ross: The Rangers’ left-hander struck out Ibanez with the bases loaded on what appeared to be a slider at 86 miles per hour to end the seventh and keep Texas ahead 4-2. Ross allowed a bloop single by former Rangers’ No. 1 draft pick Justin Smoak, then a bloop double down the same right-field line by Jesus Montero to begin the bottom of the eighth.

After Robert Andino’s RBI ground out made it 4-3, Ross charged off the mound, fielded Brendan Ryan’s suicide squeeze on the run and flipped it option quarterback-style to Pierzynski in one motion. The catcher tagged out pinch runner Endy Chavez for the second out. Ross then struck out Franklin Gutierrez with a man on to end the threat.

Still buds: Adrian Beltre, who won two Gold Gloves as the Mariners’ third baseman from 2005-09, was the first Ranger to swing at a first pitch from Hernandez, four batters into the game. He lined it off third baseman Kyle Seager’s glove for an infield single. After Murphy struck out to end the first inning, Beltre and Hernandez laughed together in the infield grass before the Ranger playfully cuffed the back of the Seattle ace’s head. Hernandez and Ibanez are the only Mariners who were teammates with Beltre in Seattle.

Have we met? Pierzynski and other Rangers yukked it up from the on-deck circle throughout the game with Seattle Seahawks Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor. The two defensive backs were sitting in the first row of box seats just to the right of the visiting dugout, wearing matching Mariners game jerseys with their names and NFL uniform numbers.

Up next: Yu Darvish (2-0, 1.98 ERA) says the blister that cut his last start short after five innings is fine to start Friday against Seattle’s Hisashi Iwakuma. It’s the 10th major league game started by pitchers born in Japan. First pitch is at 9:10 p.m. on TXA21 and 660 AM.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Rangers struggled against Rays left-hander Matt Moore, who allowed only one hit -- but did walk six -- in 5 1/3 innings as Tampa Bay avoided a sweep with a 2-0 victory on Wednesday afternoon at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Can't hit Moore: Moore, who pitched seven shutout innings in Game 1 of the 2011 ALDS to beat Texas, went 5 1/3 shutout innings with five strikeouts in his first regular-season start against the Rangers. He was wild on this cold day, walking six, but the Rangers couldn't taken advantage.

Holland's tough luck: Rangers starter Derek Holland allowed two runs for the second straight start and settled for his second consecutive no-decision. The Rangers won Holland's first start, beating the Angels 3-2. This time Holland got zero run support. He paid for three walks in the third inning, though he was able to minimize the damage to one run. The Rays manufactured a run in the fifth inning when Desmond Jennings hit a leadoff doubleand moved to third on a ground ball by Sean Rodriguez. A sacrifice fly by Evan Longoria gave the Rays a 2-0 lead.

Missed chance: Mitch Moreland had the bases loaded and a 2-0 count with the Rangers trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth, but he hit a grounder to second baseman Kelly Johnson for a double play to end the inning. Jeff Baker slid out of the basepath at second while trying to break up the play, causing Moreland to be called out and keeping Nelson Cruz from scoring.

Missed chance No. 2: Adrian Beltre singled and David Murphy lined a double down the right-field line to give the Rangers two runners in scoring position with one out in the bottom of the eighth. Manager Ron Washington went to Leonys Martin as a pinch hitter against right-hander Joel Peralta. Martin flied out on a shallow fly ball to right field, and Beltre was thrown out easily at home plate on a perfect throw by Rays right fielder Ben Zobrist.

Series streak: The Rangers lost Wednesday but still won their third straight series to open the season. It's the third straight year the Rangers have started out with three series wins in a row. The club record to start the season is six straight, set last year.

Frigid afternoon: The game-time temperature for Wednesday's game was 39 degrees, the coldest for a day game at Rangers Ballpark and the second-coldest for any home game at the ballpark. The Rangers and Red Sox started a night game on April 7, 2007 at 38 degrees. The start of the game was delayed by a one hour, 29 minutes because of rain.

Up next: The Rangers begin a four-game series at Seattle with right-hander Justin Grimm replacing Matt Harrison in the rotation for Thursday's opener. Mariners ace Felix Hernandez (1-1, 2.57 ERA) will oppose Grimm. First pitch is at 9:10 p.m. on FSSW and ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM.