ARLINGTON, Texas —  Brandon McCarthy pitched six strong innings for his first win in more than 13 months, Josh Hamilton drove in three runs and the Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners 6-4 on Tuesday night.

McCarthy (1-0) allowed two runs and four hits in his third start of the season. He struck out four without a walk in a 104-pitch outing.

McCarthy, whose last victory was on July 31, 2007, at Cleveland, went on the 60-day disabled list on March 30 with right forearm inflammation after pitching an inning in a spring training game. He didn't begin throwing in the bullpen until June 21.

Frank Francisco struck out the side in the ninth for his third save in nine chances. Texas had lost 10 of its previous 12 at home and four of five overall.

Hamilton, who increased his major league-leading RBI total to 121, Milton Bradley and Gerald Laird all had three hits for Texas, while Hank Blalock had two RBIs to help the Rangers end the Mariners' season-best four-game winning streak.

Yuniesky Betancourt homered for the Mariners.

Seattle starter Ryan Feierabend (0-2) gave up five runs and 11 hits over 5 2-3 innings.

Texas grabbed the lead in the first on Hamilton's two-run single after Seattle got a run in the top of the inning on Raul Ibanez's sacrifice fly.

The Rangers went in front 3-1 in the second when Nelson Cruz tripled and scored on Laird's single. Blalock's third-inning RBI double gave Texas a 4-1 lead.

McCarthy retired 10 straight hitters until Betancourt's two-out homer in the fifth pulled Seattle within 4-2.

Blalock's RBI single in the sixth made it 5-2.

Seattle rallied with a two-run eighth on Ibanez's run-scoring single and Jose Lopez's RBI double to get within 6-4.

Notes:@ The Mariners called up seven players from Triple-A Tacoma in a two-day span, but manager Jim Riggleman isn't a fan of expanded rosters on Sept. 1. "You play the game one way for five months, and then the last month of the season the rules are changed," Riggleman said. "I've never liked it. Some teams are playing with 28, some with 38. No other sport does it that way." ... Seattle C Kenji Johjima was out of the starting lineup after getting spiked on the hand during a slide into first base during Monday night's game. He's day-to-day. ... The Rangers extended their minor-league agreement with Class-A Spokane. ... The crowd of 14,521 was the smallest of the season at Texas. The previous low was 14,563 on May 1 against Kansas City.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.