Martin Perez gave up one run in seven innings to lead the Texas Rangers to a 7-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Perez, who allowed three hits and two walks while striking out six and making 102 pitches, won his ninth consecutive decision over his past 18 starts. He has not lost since April 17, when the Angels beat him.
Perez (9-2) battled to the end of his outing, facing Phil Gosselin with two outs and a runner on second base in the seventh and the Rangers clinging to a 2-1 lead.
Gosselin worked the count full but took a disputed called third strike as Perez ended the threat and held the lead.
The Rangers blew the game open in the top of the ninth inning, scoring five runs after there were two outs and nobody on base. The Angels aided the Rangers’ rally with a fielding error by second baseman Luis Rengifo that led to four of the runs being unearned.
Perez and Angels starter Patrick Sandoval (3-7) matched each other zero-for-zero for the first five innings. Sandoval retired the first seven batters he faced until Nick Solak singled with one out in the third.
Perez was even better, perfect through four innings, retiring all 12 batters he faced. He got Taylor Ward on a groundout to begin the fifth, but Jo Adell followed by hooking a line drive into the left field corner for a double.
Adell, however, was stranded and the game remained scoreless going to the sixth.
After retiring the first batter of the sixth, Sandoval gave up a liner in the left field corner to Marcus Semien. When left fielder Adell kicked the ball around near the wall, Semien kept running.
The Angels appeared to have a play at the plate, but Rengifo’s relay throw to catcher Kurt Suzuki was in the dirt, Suzuki unable to scoop and tag a sliding Semien.
Semien was credited with a double, Adell was charged with a two-base error and the Rangers took a 1-0 lead.
Adolis Garcia added an RBI double later in the sixth. The Angels got on the board in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single from Rengifo, who led the hosts’ offense with two hits.
–Field Level Media