Gallardo leads Rangers past visiting Dodgers
ARLINGTON -- The Rangers broke open a scoreless tie with a four-run sixth inning and coasted to a 4-1 Interleague win over the Dodgers on Monday night at Globe Life Park.
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With seven scoreless innings on four hits, Yovani Gallardo (6-6) outpitched Carlos Frias (4-4) in the Dodgers' first game in Texas since 2009. Gallardo has five consecutive quality starts, while Frias has one win in his last seven starts. Former Dodger Shawn Tolleson earned his ninth save.
"It's not an easy team to face with the guys they have in that lineup," Gallardo said. "I made pitches when I had to. I think we executed our game plan as we talked about before very well."
The Rangers' sixth inning opened with walks by Frias to Shin-Soo Choo and Joey Gallo. Prince Fielder and Mitch Moreland singled home a run and Rougned Odor greeted reliever Adam Liberatore with a two-run single.
"After the two walks, I tried to get a double play to get out of the inning but I made mistakes," said Frias.
Video: LAD@TEX: Puig breaks his bat after a strikeout
The only Dodgers run came on Yasmani Grandal's eighth home run, which was slugged on the first pitch after Tanner Scheppers took over for Gallardo in the eighth. Yasiel Puig struck out with two on that inning, broke the bat over his knee, then threw it in the tunnel leading to the clubhouse.
"We didn't do enough to win," said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly. "We didn't give ourselves a whole lot of chances."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Video: LAD@TEX: Rangers get strike-'em-out, throw-'em-out DP
Not delivering in the sixth: Both teams opened their half of the sixth inning with a pair of walks. While the Rangers turned them into a four-run rally, the Dodgers wasted the chance. Alberto Callaspo didn't tag to third on Puig's fly out to deep right field so Joc Pederson couldn't advance to second base on the play, then Adrian Gonzalez bounced into an inning-ending double-play.
"It was a different type of play," said Mattingly. "In general, you tag to third on that. But [right fielder Shin-Soo Choo] lost the ball and that got Callaspo to come off thinking it would drop. But you have to treat it like he's camped underneath it and tag, so if he drops it the worst case you have bases loaded." More >
Video: LAD@TEX: Odor singles in a pair to extend the lead
Odor's return: In his first Major League game since being optioned to Triple-A on May 11, Odor had three hits and two RBIs on his sixth-inning single that put the Rangers up 4-0. Odor came into the day hitting .144 in 29 Major League games this season.
"You see the adjustments," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "Tremendous job by our development people working with this kid. To get him back up here, night one, you just see the adjustments, and it paid off for us." More >
Double trouble times four: The Dodgers had four innings torpedoed by double-plays. In the third inning on a strike-'em-out, throw-'em-out double play, Jimmy Rollins was cut down trying to steal second base while Callaspo struck out. In the fifth and seventh innings, Andre Ethier grounded into double plays. And in the sixth inning, Gonzalez bounced into the shift for a twin killing.
Video: LAD@TEX: Gallardo gets double play to end the threat
Keeping it quality: Gallardo's quality start was the 11th straight for Rangers starting pitchers, breaking a club record set in 1978. The streak is also the longest in the Majors this season. Gallardo threw seven shutout innings, allowing four hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
"We plan on keeping [the streak] going," Gallardo said. "That's for sure." More >
WHAT'S NEXT
Dodgers: Brett Anderson gets the call for Tuesday's game at 5:05 p.m. PT after he went only five innings and allowed back-to-back homers to Paul Goldschmidt and Yasmany Tomas on Wednesday.
Rangers: Chi Chi Gonzalez (2-1, 0.42 ERA) makes his fourth Major League start and his first against a National League team when he faces the Dodgers at 7:05 p.m. CT.
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