Tampa Bay’s Faria gets 1st win since July

ST. PETERSBURG — Jake Faria was aggressive in the strike zone and it helped him end a long winless drought.

Faria won for the first time since last July 25, allowing one run over six innings to lead the Tampa Bay Rays over the Cole Hamels and the Texas Rangers 4-2 on Wednesday.

“I’m physically feeling good and a lot better mentally,” Faria said. “More willing to pound the strike, not shy away from the bats.”

Faria (1-1) struck out six and walked one. He had been 0-4 in eight starts and two relief appearances since beating Baltimore.

“Today was his best pounding the zone,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Get the ball in the zone and trust your stuff.”

Hamels (1-3) gave up two hits through five scoreless innings before the Rays rallied to take a 3-1 lead in the sixth on Daniel Robertson’s RBI double, C.J Cron’s runscoring single and Adeiny Hechavarria’s sacrifice fly.

“Sometimes you’re going to battle throughout the game and when it really does matter you have to make the right pitches and I wasn’t able to do,” Hamels said.

Denard Span’s RBI double with one out in the seventh chased Hamels, who allowed four runs and seven hits in 61⁄3 innings.

“I thought we stayed in there and hung in there really well against him,” Cash said.

Chaz Rowe struck out all three batters he faced in the seventh, and Jose Alvarado fanned one during a perfect eighth. Alex Colome got his fourth save despite allowing Drew Robinson’s RBI single in the ninth.

Colome has a 9.00 ERA this season, and has two losses and two blown saves in nine appearances.

“In all fairness he’s not quite right yet,” Cash said. “He’s working through it. He’d be the first to admit he’s not totally locked in, but he’s going to continue to try and find it.”

Texas’ Shin-Soo Choo homered for the second straight game, an oppositefield solo shot to left-center in the third.

A fan in a Rays jersey and with a baseball glove reached over the right-field wall to catch a drive by the Rangers’ Renato Nunez in the fifth.

The right-handed fan reached into a pocket immediately after the grab and threw a different ball back onto the field.

The on-field call of a double due to fan interference was upheld in a video review, and the fan was given a warning and relocated to another section by security.