ANAHEIM, Calif. _ Martin Perez tossed seven scoreless innings, and Drew Robinson and Mike Napoli connected for home runs as the Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-0 Thursday to gain more ground in the wild-card standings.
Ricky Rodriguez recorded his first career save as the Rangers moved above .500 and within one game of Minnesota for the second wild-card spot.
Robinson swatted a two-run homer in the third after Brett Nicholas doubled for the Rangers' first hit. Napoli connected in the fourth for his 27th homer of the season.
Perez took control after the first two batters reached in the third. He retired the next 10 batters before Albert Pujols singled with one out in the sixth. Jefry Marte started the seventh with a double, but Perez retired the next three hitters.
Jason Grilli walked the first two in the eighth, including Mike Trout, but retired three straight for a scoreless inning. Rodriguez worked a perfect ninth.
How Rangers hitters fared: There wasn't much offense there, but what offense there was proved to be enough. ... The Rangers didn't have a hit until Brett Nicholas doubled with one out in the third. Drew Robinson was next, and he clubbed a home run into the right-field seats for a 2-0 lead. ... Mike Napoli got into the homer act in the fourth with a towering drive that cleared the wall in left-center. ... The Rangers collected two more, a two-out double by Shin-Soo Choo in the eighth and an Adrian Beltre single to start the ninth.
How Rangers pitchers fared: Martin Perez had arguable his finest start of the season at a key time, tossing seven scoreless innings. ... The Angels collected seven hits, five of them in their first 10 batters before Perez retired 10 in a row. He allowed only two hits the rest of the way, and he didn't issue a walk. ... Jason Grilli issued walks to the first two batters he faced before retiring three straight to preserve a 3-0 lead. ... Ricky Rodriguez record the first save of his career with a perfect ninth.
