Rangers Shoot Down Tampa

The Texas Rangers, known for their hitting, got solid pitching from an unlikely source.

Rookies Ryan Glynn, Mike Venafro and Jeff Zimmerman allowed two runs and Juan Gonzalez extended his season-high RBI streak to seven games as the Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 7-2 Tuesday night.

"It's exciting to see three kids from the minor league system that weren't on the ballclub when we opened the season come in here and do what they did," Texas manager Johnny Oates said. "That's certainly encouraging to put it mildly. That's exciting."

"I'll be on the phone tonight. I saw my parents (over the weekend) in Baltimore, but I'm sure they're real excited," said Venafro, who wasn't aware he was the winner until given the game ball by Zimmerman in the clubhouse. "I didn't even know how it worked, being a short reliever."

Glynn pitched in and out of trouble during his first major league start, stranding seven baserunners through four innings. He was pulled just two outs away from possibly qualifying for his first victory.

"When you send a guy out there like that, you want to do everything in your power to give him a chance to get the win," Oates said. "I just felt in this occasion I'd gone as far as I could and that he would get many, many more opportunities to get that first win."

Glynn allowed two runs and seven hits in 4 1-3 innings. He walked three and had three strikeouts.

"I guess all the rookies kind of took care of it tonight," Glynn said. "I'm not disappointed. The team won and that's all that matters at the big league level."

Venafro entered in the fifth with the Rangers leading 5-2. The left-hander allowed just two singles, to Fred McGriff and Miguel Cairo.

"He threw a quality sinker and got a lot worms killed arond home plate

Zimmerman, who had his franchise-record string of retiring 25 straight hitters end in his last outing Saturday, struck out two and walked one in recording the final three outs.

Bobby Witt (3-2) took the loss, giving up seven runs and nine hits over six-plus innings.

Devil Rays manager Larry Rothschild admitted his team, which has lost four straight, is in a funk.

"It starts with the pitching," Rothschild said. "When you fall behind, it's constantly an uphill battle. It just makes it tougher and tougher."

"It's not just Bobby," Rothschild added. "Go across the board. The time comes where you have to make pitches and give us a chance to win games. It's just time."

Rusty Greer's sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single by Gonzalez keyed a three-run, third-inning that put Texas up 4-0.

Gonzalez has six RBIs in the past two games. He had two homers and five RBIs as the Rangers routed Tampa Bay 12-3 in Monday night's series opener.

McGriff, who went 4-for-5, had a run-scoring single in the third that made it 4-1.

After Royce Clayton's single made it 5-1 in the fourth, Tampa Bay got the run back in the bottom of the frame on Randy Winn's RBI single. Glynn avoided further damage when he struck out Jose Canseco with runners on first and third.

Lee Stevens had a run-scoring double in a two-run seventh inning as the Rangers took a 7-2 lead.

The Rangers' consecutive game home run streak was snapped at 12.

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