Texas Rangers right-hander Nick Martinez pitched five good innings Saturday, working out of trouble and battling out of bad situations with men on base. Unfortunately he pitched six innings.
The White Sox have been struggling, losers of eight straight. But that one inning, in which they got three singles, Martinez hit a batter and shortstop Elvis Andrus made an error, led to two runs, all Chicago needed to snap the streak with a 3-2 victory.
Unlike on Friday, when the Rangers rallied in the ninth for a 2-1 win , there were no late-game heroics this time. Prince Fielder of the Rangers struck out and Mitch Moreland and Ryan Rua popped out in the ninth to give White Sox closer David Robertson his 14th save. Robertson had given up the game-winning hit on Friday.
Martinez (5-3) had a much better outing than the last time he faced the White Sox, when he gave up seven runs in 3 1-3 innings on June 3. On Saturday, he was done in by one bad inning. After loading the bases on three singles, Adam LaRoche gave Chicago the lead with a sacrifice fly. Then Martinez hit Melky Cabrera on the foot to again load the bases before Alexi Ramirez' soft groundball up the middle got by Andrus, allowing the Sox to score two more.
"I get the same ground ball a thousand times, I know I will make that play," Andrus said. "It was an easy ground ball, I just took my eye off the ball too quick. ... I feel bad for (Martinez). He was throwing a tremendous game."
Texas closed to 3-2 in the fifth when Carlos Corporan hit an RBI single and Rougned Odor beat out a double play to allow another run to score.
Texas manager Jeff Banister thought the Rangers tied the game in the seventh on Leonys Martin's long, high fly ball to right that was ruled foul. Banister challenged the ruling, which was allowed to stand.
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"I felt like we had a really strong case," Banister said.
The Rangers struck out 11 times.
Carlos Rodon (3-1) got the win for the White Sox, giving up two runs and four hits, striking out five and walking three. Zach Putnam and Zach Duke combined to strike out five straight during the seventh and eighth innings for the White Sox.
The White Sox scored more than two runs for the first time in seven games. Chicago avoided losing nine consecutive games for the first time since 2013.
GALLO GETS REPS AT CENTER
Rangers 3B Joey Gallo is getting practice shagging fly balls in center field, in case he's needed to fill in should something happen to CF Leonys Martin, with both Josh Hamilton and Delino DeShields on the DL. "I want (Gallo) to go out there and see the ball in center field (in case) we get in a pinch," Banister said. He said RF Shin-Soo Choo has experience playing center and might field some fly balls there, too.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Rangers: OF Josh Hamilton (hamstring) is expected to work out at Double-A Frisco on Sunday, then take Monday off before he works out with the Rangers on Tuesday in Arlington. Then he will possibly begin a rehab assignment.
UP NEXT
Rangers RHP Yovani Gallardo (6-6, 3.16 ERA) is scheduled to start against White Sox LHP Jose Quintana (3-7, 4.03) in Sunday's series finale.
