Texas Rangers DH Choo Shin-soo (right) is congratulated by teammate Prince Fielder after scoring a run in the first inning. (AFP-Yonhap)
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) ― Colby Lewis pitched into the sixth inning for his first win in nearly two years, Prince Fielder homered and the Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox 6-3 on Saturday night.
Lewis (1-1) struck out four while allowing only one run over 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander, the first known major league pitcher to return from a unique hip procedure, won for the first time since June 17, 2012.
Choo Shin-soo and Alex Rios each had three hits for the Rangers, who won their fifth consecutive game. Kevin Kouzmanoff homered leading off the eighth, giving him a 10-game hitting streak to start his Rangers career. Texas went ahead to stay on Fielder’s high-arching blast to right leading off the fourth for a 2-1 lead. It was only his second homer in his 18 games with Texas.
Jose Quintana (1-1) allowed five runs and nine hits over five innings, and the White Sox lost their fourth straight.
Before his season debut Monday night, a home loss to Seattle, Lewis hadn’t made a major league start since July 18, 2012. The 34-year-old right-hander had surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his right elbow, and was still rehabbing from that last August when he had right hip resurfacing surgery, a procedure to remove bone spurs without a full hip replacement.
Joakim Soria, the fifth Texas reliever, worked a perfect ninth for his third save in four chances.
Dayan Viciedo’s two-run single in the eighth got the White Sox within 5-3 before Alexei Ramirez, who entered the game with a AL-leading .379 batting average, grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Ramirez finished 0 for 4 to snap his 21-game hitting streak, the longest hitting streak by a White Sox player since Carlos Lee’s franchise-record 28 in a row 10 years ago, and drop his average to .357.
Josh Wilson had a two-run single in the fourth for Texas before Choo’s RBI-double made it 5-1.
Ethier’s HR propels Dodgers
LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Andre Ethier hit a three-run homer and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied from an early four-run deficit to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-6 on Saturday.
Dan Haren (3-0) was charged with five runs ― two earned ― and seven hits over 7 1/3 innings. The right-hander struck out five in his fourth start of the season, six days after his 8-6 victory over the Diamondbacks at Phoenix.
Haren departed with an 8-4 lead and was replaced by Brian Wilson, who gave up a two-run double by Martin Prado before retiring Chris Owings on a grounder with runners at the corners to end the eighth. Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth for his sixth save.
Mike Bolsinger (0-1) made his first major league start and was charged with seven runs ― six earned ― and seven hits in four-plus innings. He struck out five of the first 11 batters he faced.
The 26-year-old righty was inserted into the rotation after Trevor Cahill, who went 0-4 with a 9.17 ERA before earning his first career save on Friday.
Toronto 5, Cleveland 0
St. Louis 4, Washington 3
Detroit 5, LA Angels 2
Boston 4, Baltimore 2
Kansas City 5, Minnesota 4
Chicago Cubs 8, Cincinnati 4
Oakland 4, Houston 3
Milwaukee 8, Pittsburgh 7
Atlanta 7, NY Mets 5
Miami 7, Seattle 0
Tampa Bay 16, NY Yankees 1
Colorado 3, Philadelphia 1
San Diego 3, San Francisco 1