Texas Rangers Blast Oakland 13-4 without Josh Hamilton

Colby Lewis pitched into the eighth inning for his first victory in nearly a month even while giving up another home run as the AL West-leading Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics 13-4 on Friday night without slugger and reigning AL MVP Josh Hamilton.

Hamilton was scratched from the lineup so he could be with his wife for the birth of his 4th child Friday night, but even without Hamilton the Rangers were able to exploit the porous A's pitching.

Lewis (12-10) trailed 2-0 only four batters into the game after Josh Willingham's two-run homer, the AL-high 33rd allowed by the Rangers right-hander this season. Texas got even in the bottom of the first and Oakland didn't score again until after Lewis had thrown his last pitch.

Adrian Beltre had an RBI double and Elvis Andrus had two run-scoring hits, including a tiebreaking RBI double in the fifth that made it 3-2.