ARLINGTON, Texas (Reuters) - The Texas Rangers blanked the Major League-leading Los Angeles Dodgers on the back of a strong pitching effort to clinch a 6-0 inter-league victory on Friday.
Starter Vicente Padilla (5-3) pitched five scoreless innings while Jason Jennings and Jason Grilli combined on the final three as the Rangers (35-25) recorded a shutout win for the second straight night.
Padilla needed 44 pitches to get through the first two innings as the Dodgers ground out at-bats but could not capitalize by putting any runs on the board.
"They worked him pretty good, but he was a warrior out there," Texas manager Ron Washington told reporters. "It all starts with pitching and defense. "We made more great plays out there. They had a lot of opportunities."
After holding off the Toronto Blue Jays 1-0 on Thursday, the Rangers got off to a good start against the Dodgers, scoring two runs in the third inning where Michael Young had an RBI single.
Texas catcher Taylor Teagarden finished 2-for-4 with a two-RBI double in the sixth, when the Rangers scored three times to chase Los Angeles starter Hiroki Kuroda.
Kuroda, who spent two months out with an abdomen injury earlier this year, struck out six but gave up eight hits and five runs in 5 1/3 innings.
The Dodgers, who are 40-22 for the year and have a seven-game advantage in the NL West Division, are now 6-13 against American League competition since the start of last season.
Juan Pierre and Casey Blake had two hits apiece for Los Angeles, while Andre Ethier went 0-for-2 to snap a nine-game hitting streak.
"They played well. There's going to be times where you go through little spells," Ethier said. "It's sometimes just how it is. We'll put this one behind us."
Hank Blalock added a solo home run for Texas, his 13th of the season, to help the AL West-leading Rangers win their second straight.
(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by Ian Ransom/Nick Mulvenney)
Source: Reuters
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