Rangers win 3rd straight, beat Diamondbacks 3-1

PHOENIX (AP) — Jordan Lyles pitched seven smooth innings in relief, Jason Martin hit a two-run single and the Texas Rangers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-1 on Tuesday night.

It's a rare three-game winning streak for the last-place Rangers. They'll try to tie their season high of four straight wins on Wednesday.

“We had a hard time winning games like today earlier in the season," Texas manager Chris Woodward said. "Now we’re finding ways to win games like this."

Arizona has lost nine of 10.

The Diamondbacks jumped out to a short-lived 1-0 lead in the third when Josh Rojas hit a sacrifice fly that brought home Daulton Varsho.

Texas responded with three runs in the fourth, the big blow coming on Martin's two-run single. Lyles took it from there, matching his season high with seven innings despite coming out of the bullpen. He threw 96 pitches.

Texas used an opener to start the game and right-hander Spencer Howard was effective, retiring all six hitters he faced before handing off to Lyles.

It was the second straight strong outing for Lyles (8-11), a veteran right-hander who has had a rough season and entered with a 5.63 ERA. He'd given up the most hits (171) and homers (36) in the AL this year.

But Lyles cruised through the Diamondbacks' lineup, yielding just three hits and one run. Texas shortstop Yonny Hernandez helped the pitcher by making a diving catch of Varsho's line drive to end the fourth that would have scored Pavin Smith from third.

Smith had two of Arizona's three hits.

Lyles retired 15 of the last 16 batters he faced.

“We had a couple quick, efficient innings in there," Lyles said. "Not too much traffic on the bases.”

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said his team wasn't being selective enough at the...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Rangers-win-3rd-straight-beat-Diamondbacks-3-1-16442039.php