AL-best Rangers roll past Yankees

NEW YORK — Cole Hamels breezed through seven shutout innings, Adrian Beltre homered and drove in three runs and the rolling Rangers beat the Yankees 7-1 on Tuesday night.

One night after Texas rallied to win at 2:44 a.m. following a 31/2-hour rain delay in the ninth inning, the Rangers again played with plenty of spunk and energy. They've won four in a row and 12 of 14, improving the American League's top record to 51-27 with their eighth straight road victory.

Hamels yielded six harmless singles and struck out seven. He threw only 86 pitches and outdueled CC Sabathia in a matchup of accomplished left-handers.

Alex Rodriguez, who returned to the lineup against the left-hander Hamels after getting benched vs. two straight right-handers, went 0-for-3 with a sacrifice fly and two strikeouts for New York.

Sabathia rebounded from a poor previous outing and a sprained ankle to pitch into the eighth.

The Rangers scored three batters into the game when Beltre hit a two-run homer to right.

Texas batted around in the eighth. Beltre had an RBI single, Prince Fielder had an RBI double and Nomar Mazara greeted reliever Anthony Swarzak with an RBI single. Rougned Odor followed with an RBI single.