Rangers 5, White Sox 0: Three Floyd mistakes too many

The first two games of this series were tight contests, but the White Sox couldn't escape Arlington without the Texas Rangers showing their might.

Gavin Floyd gave up just five hits over 5 2/3 innings, but only two stayed in the park. David Murphy, Adrian Beltre, and, most impressively, Josh Hamilton all took Floyd deep on non-ideal pitches. In the process, the Rangers showed why their lineup is a cut above above. It's really hard for opposing pitchers to get away with mistakes.

The White Sox, on the other hand, weren't nearly as threatening. They matched the Rangers with six hits, but they couldn't string them together off Matt Harrison, who kept them off-balance with off-speed pitches in fastball counts. The Sox went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

An ugly sequence in the fourth inning cost the Sox their best chance at changing the course of the game. Gordon Beckham led off with a "double" (he took second on a bobble by Murphy in left), and moved to third on Adam Dunn's groundout. Paul Konerko, who had delivered two clutch hits on Saturday, could only hit a weak chopper back towards the mound. Beckham compounded the problem by breaking for home, and he was tagged out in a rundown.

The Sox weren't able to truly mount another threat, as Texas clobbered their way to a safe lead. Hamilton kept the shutout intact with an impressive diving catch in left center to end the seventh, taking an RBI double away from Alejandro De Aza.

At least Nate Jones provided a highlight with his major-league debut. Jones made his own trouble by starting with back-to-back walks, but after a mound visit by Don Cooper, Jones teased a double play out of Elvis Andrus.

That left a runner on third and two outs for Hamilton, and Jones attacked him with the changeup. Hamilton chased two of them down and out of the zone to fall behind 0-2, and the sixth change of an eight-pitch battle resulted in a swinging strikeout to end the threat.

Bullet points:

• The White Sox bullpen threw 7 1/3 scoreless innings over the three-game series.
• Alex Rios made an outstanding diving catch in right on a shallow fly.
  

Record: 1-2 | Box score | Play-by-play