Arlington, TX – Colby Lewis threw his second straight complete game, David Murphy hit a two-run homer and the Rangers defeated the Diamondbacks, 9-1, on Tuesday in the opener of a three-game interleague series.
Lewis (5-5) took a perfect game into the sixth inning and struck out seven. He gave up four hits, including an eighth-inning home run to Miguel Montero, and walked one.
"You know you haven't been out of the stretch," said Lewis, acknowledging that he was aware of his perfect game. "If you don't know that you haven't given up a hit then you're lying."
Mitch Moreland and Craig Gentry both had a pair of RBI for Texas, which was coming off a 4-6 road trip. Ian Kinsler went 3-for-5, drove in a run and scored on a wild pitch in the first inning.
Ian Kennedy (5-6) took the loss, allowing six runs on 10 hits over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out four and walked one for Arizona, which saw its season- high five-game win streak come to an end.
Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt went 0-for-3 and saw his career- high 17-game hit streak come to an end.
In addition to Goldschmidt, Lewis had to contend with Willie Bloomquist, who had reached base safely in 19 straight games, and Jason Kubel, who was batting .571 over his previous four tilts.
Bloomquist doubled in the ninth inning but Kubel failed to record a hit.
In fact, Aaron Hill was the first to do so, lacing a one-out single in the sixth, but Lewis promptly induced Josh Bell into an inning-ending double play.
Murphy's homer in the bottom half was one of six consecutive two-out hits for the Rangers, resulting in a five-run frame. Moreland and Gentry had back-to- back RBI doubles during the stretch and Kinsler added a run-scoring single, which knocked Kennedy from the game.
Texas loaded the bases an inning later and Moreland came through with a two- out single before Mike Zagurski hit Gentry, forcing home another run.
Elvis Andrus led off the eighth with a triple and came home on Josh Hamilton's base hit to left, sealing the final margin.
"Lewis threw a great game," said Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson. "We weren't on him. They swung the bats well so we'll put this one behind us."
Game Notes
It was Lewis' fifth career complete game. In his last outing, he went the distance but suffered a hard-luck, 2-0 loss to the Athletics...Prior to the game, the Rangers placed pitcher Alexi Ogando on the 15-day disabled list with a right groin strain.
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