Treanor, Wilson lead the Rangers to victory

[April 28, 2010]  ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Texas catcher Matt Treanor had a solo homer and a two-run double for his first extra-base hits of the season and former reliever C.J. Wilson had another solid start for the Rangers in a 4-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.

Treanor's big game came hours after the Rangers optioned Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Taylor Teagarden, the two catchers on their season-opening roster, to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Wilson (2-1) gave up two runs over six innings, striking out Donny Lucy to end the sixth with the bases loaded after going to a 3-0 count and then having Lucy foul off three full-count pitches before finally swinging and missing.

Dustin Nippert worked two scoreless innings before Frank Francisco had a perfect ninth for his first save in three chances.

Francisco lost his closer job after blowing two save chances the first week of the season. Hard-throwing Neftali Feliz, who took over as the closer, was unavailable after pitching the previous two games, and giving up back-to-back homers in the ninth inning of a loss to Detroit on Monday night.

White Sox left-hander Mark Buehrle (2-3) lost his third straight start, allowing four runs over seven innings.

Carlos Quentin snapped a 1-for-34 slide with an infield RBI single in the fifth for Chicago, which was coming off a three-game sweep of Seattle.

Treanor put the Rangers ahead to stay with a solo homer in the second, the ball just clearing the 14-foot wall in left field. His double made 3-0 in the fourth after Josh Hamilton and Vladimir Guerrero had consecutive singles and Buehrle threw a wild pitch.s

Treanor, the husband of two-time Olympic beach volleyball gold medalist Misty May-Treanor, was acquired by the Rangers from Milwaukee during spring training. He was called up April 9 from Oklahoma City when Saltalmacchia went on the disabled list because of upper back stiffness.

It was the sixth start in nine games for Treanor, who played for Florida from 2004-08 and started four games for Detroit last season. Max Ramirez, recalled Tuesday from Oklahoma City, is the other Rangers catcher.

The Rangers activated Saltalamacchia from the disabled list Tuesday and optioned him to Oklahoma City, where he had already appeared in six games on a rehabilitation assignment. Teagarden was hitting only .037 (1 for 27) with 17 strikeouts in 10 games.

Wilson, who before the season hadn't started since his 2005 rookie season when he was coming off Tommy John ligament replacement surgery, has already had two starts without allowing runs. The left-hander had thrown 6 2-3 scoreless innings in his previous start Thursday night at Boston, and has a 1.75 ERA through four starts.

After the White Sox loaded the bases in the sixth on a hit batsman, a single and a walk, Alexei Ramirez had an RBI single. Wilson then finally got Lucy out on his 104th pitch of the game. He struck out five and walked three.

Rangers rookie first baseman Justin Smoak got his first major league RBI with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.

NOTES: Bench coach Jackie Moore's jersey was hanging in the Rangers dugout. Moore is away from the team after the death of his 52-year-old daughter Sunday. ... Wilson had thrown 25 2-3 consecutive scoreless innings at Rangers Ballpark, dating back to last July 21, before the fourth inning. ... White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko had homered in three straight games before Tuesday.

[Associated Press; By STEPHEN HAWKINS]

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