MIAMI (AP) — Josh Hamilton capped a four-hit night with his 16th home run, Michael Young hit a two-run single to break Texas' all-time hits record, and the Rangers overcame an early injury to starter Tommy Hunter to beat the Florida Marlins 6-3 on Wednesday night.
Ian Kinsler scored two unearned runs for the AL West-leading Rangers, now 11-4 in June. Young finished with two hits, as did Julio Borbon, including his first homer in 263 at-bats.
Hamilton homered off Renyel Pinto to straightaway center in the ninth, well past the 404-foot sign for his 48th RBI of the year.
Chris Coghlan had an RBI double and Hanley Ramirez drove in his seventh run in the past seven games for the Marlins, who have dropped seven of their past 10.
Highly touted rookie right fielder Mike Stanton went 0 for 4, and is hitless in eight at-bats during his first Florida homestand.
Young tied Ivan Rodriguez's club mark of 1,747 hits in the seventh, then drove a 2-2 fastball from Florida reliever Jay Buente one inning later into center field for the record and a three-run lead.
Darren O'Day (3-2) threw two perfect innings of relief to be credited with the win. Neftali Feliz pitched the ninth for his 17th save in 19 chances, striking out the side.
Hunter was bidding for his third win in as many starts after beginning the year on the DL with a strained left oblique. He was strong in the early going, not allowing a hit in 2 1-3 innings, but then walked Marlins right-hander Anibal Sanchez and fell behind Coghlan 3-0.
That was all for Hunter, who left with what the Rangers called discomfort in his right hip flexor.
By then, the Rangers had a 3-0 lead.
A pair of infield singles by Hamilton and David Murphy in the first, following a throwing error by Sanchez on a pickoff attempt, allowed Kinsler to score the game's first run. Borbon hit his first home run since September in the second, and Kinsler made it 3-0 after scoring when Marlins first baseman Gaby Sanchez couldn't handle a hard-hit ball by Murphy in the third.
Sanchez (6-4) settled down, leaving after allowing eight hits and one earned run in six innings.
Florida's starter actually scored his team's first run on Ramirez's groundout in the third, and the Marlins got within a run when Ronny Paulino hit a leadoff single in the fifth, was bunted over by Sanchez and scored easily on a double to center by Coghlan.
The Marlins didn't get another baserunner until the eighth, when Coghlan drew a four-pitch leadoff walk and eventually scored when Ramirez grounded into a 6-4-3 double play after swinging on the first pitch he saw from Frank Francisco.
NOTES: It was the eighth time Hamilton had at least four hits in a game. He extended his hitting streak to 12 games, and he's hit safely in 14 straight interleague contests. ... Neither starting pitcher had ever faced a batter from the opposing dugout before Wednesday. ... The Marlins fell to 5-8 when committing at least two errors. ... Young has his 1,748 hits in 1,416 games, 91 fewer than Rodriguez needed with the club.
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