ARLINGTON, Texas – Josh Hamilton hit two more home runs, Yu Darvish struck out seven and the Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels 10-3 in a rain-interrupted game Friday night when C.J. Wilson faced only five batters against his old team.
Both of Hamilton's solo homers came after a one-hour, 56-minute rain delay in the first inning when the Rangers went ahead to stay against Wilson (4-3), their No. 1 starter last season who left in free agency after their second consecutive World Series appearance.
Hamilton had three hits and his second multihomer game this week. The other was Tuesday night in Baltimore when the slugger became only the 16th player in major league history with four in a game.
Unlike Wilson, Darvish (5-1) returned after the rain stopped. The 25-year-old Japanese right-hander, signed by the Rangers after they let Wilson go, worked into the sixth. His 93rd and final pitch came four hours after his first one.
The game ended just after midnight local time, and the postgame fireworks show went on as scheduled. That was only about 12 hours before the start of Game 2 of the series Saturday afternoon.
Mitch Moreland also homered for Texas in the seventh, when Rangers fans started chanting "We want C.J.!" with a rhythmic clap.
Moreland entered in the first when he hit for catcher Yorvit Torrealba, who had a head contusion after he was struck by the splintered bat of Albert Pujols.
Hamilton hit a towering drive in the second inning, then lined a shot into the right-field seats in the fourth to make it 9-2. He has eight homers in his past five games.
The slugger, who is eligible for free agency after the season, leads the majors with his .407 batting average, 17 homers and 40 RBIs.
The Rangers, citing baseballreference.com, said Hamilton is only the third player since 1918 with 17 homers in his team's first 33 games, and he missed three of those with back stiffness. The others were Cy Williams for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1923 and Frank Howard for the Washington Senators in 1968.
Wilson struck out Ian Kinsler to start the bottom of the first, but that was the only out for the left-hander.
Elvis Andrus, Hamilton and Adrian Beltre followed with consecutive infield singles for a 1-0 lead. Michael Young then walked to load the bases before umpires stopped the game as heavy rain started to fall.
After the delay, Nelson Cruz hit a two-run single on the first pitch thrown by right-hander Jerome Williams, the scheduled Saturday starter. Young then scored on a fielder's choice for a 4-0 lead that closed the book on Wilson, who allowed only four earned runs over 20 innings in his previous three road starts this year.
Texas led 6-0 later in the first when Craig Gentry had the first of his three hits, a two-run triple.
Darvish, coming off his first loss Sunday at Cleveland, walked three and gave up three hits.
Mike Trout hit a two-run homer in the third after Darvish walked No. 9 batter Bobby Wilson. Torii Hunter snapped an 0-for-21 slide in the sixth with a solo shot, his fifth.
Torrealba dropped to the ground after Pujols followed through on his swing and the bat struck the catcher's mask with so much force that it was knocked off his head. After gathering himself for a few minutes, Torrealba remained in the game.
After the delay, the Rangers said Torrealba had a head contusion and was still being monitored. Mike Napoli moved to catcher from first base, where Moreland played defensively.
Pujols' bat splintered in half, and the barrel wound up in foul territory near third base not far from where Young caught the popup. Pujols, who hit three homers for St. Louis in Game 3 of the World Series in Texas last October, finished 0 for 4. He is hitting .192 with one homer and 11 RBIs in 32 games with the Angels.
NOTES: Hamilton and Andrus both have 11-game hitting streaks. ... Texas (22-11) has the best record in the majors, and equaled its best 33-game start in franchise history. ... The Angels (14-19) had won four of five games and eight of 11. ... The crowd of 48,201 extended the Rangers' record streak of sellouts to seven in a row. The last two games are sold out as well.
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