ATLANTA -- Rangers reliever Neftali Feliz sat on a big leather sofa with his feet propped up on a table. He had a smile on his face and his body gently rocked to the sound of the victorious Latin music pounding through the Rangers' victorious clubhouse.
"Long day .. but a great day," Feliz said. "I was very happy to get that save ... very happy to get it here against the Braves."
On a night when Rangers starter Matt Harrison deserved a medal of valor, Feliz and Adrian Beltre deserved gold stars for finally bring this one to a triumphant end. Feliz drove in the winning run with a one-out single in the 10th and Feliz closed it out in the bottom of the inning to preserve Texas' 5-4 victory over Atlanta on Saturday at Turner Field.
The game was delayed two hours and 16 minutes by rain during the fifth inning before needing to be decided in extras. But the Rangers have won two straight over the Braves after bringing a five-game skid with them. They are 3-6 with one game left on a 10-game trip.
"A great victory for sure," said shortstop Elvis Andrus, who had three hits, two runs scored and his second career steal of home. "We have been grinding it out this whole road trip. Now we've won two games here, we have a chance to swing momentum back our way when we go home."
Andrus, working with Josh Hamilton on the double steal, swiped home in the third. It was his second steal of home this season and helped give the Rangers a 4-0 lead. But they almost let this one slip away. Three unearned runs helped the Braves rally and force extra innings before Texas pulled it out.
"It was a battle, it really was," Rangers manager Ron Washington said.
"If you're going to sit here all day, you might as well win it," reliever Darren Oliver said. "That was a long day."
Mark Lowe earned the victory with a scoreless ninth after the Braves tied it up with an unearned run in the eighth off Oliver. But the pitcher who impressed the most was Harrison.
He had a 4-2 lead going into the bottom of the fifth and retired the first two hitters he faced as the rain started coming down. The Rangers needed just one more out, but the rain started getting heavier and home-plate umpire Brian Gorman waved both teams off the field.
That forced Harrison to sit around before rain stopped and the grounds crew finally got the field in shape. The Braves did not bring back starter Derek Lowe after the delay, but Harrison kept his body loose and kept playing light catch every 15-20 minutes. He was willing to go out there despite some qualms from pitching coach Mike Maddux.
"I wanted to make sure I didn't get stiff and have to come out of the game," Harrison said. "That's why he went to the mound to watch me warm up. He thought about not sending me back out there, but I was able to stay loose, go back and get some outs."
Harrison ended up going 6 1/3 innings. He gave up a solo home run to Brian McCann in the sixth and left with a 4-3 lead.
"What he did for us tonight was huge," Ian Kinsler said.
"Harrison gave us exactly what we needed," Washington said. "We needed him to get us into the seventh and he did that."
It was the longest a Major League starter has endured a rain delay this season and returned to the game.
"I've never really seen somebody come back after that long of a rain delay," Braves second baseman Dan Uggla said. "I thought he was just going to go that extra out. He ended up pitching in two more innings. He showed a lot of what he's made of tonight and pitched a great game."
Kinsler started the rally in the 10th with a double down the right-field line against Braves reliever Scott Proctor. Andrus missed two bunt attempts trying to get Kinsler over and then grounded out to third. Josh Hamilton was intentionally walked and Beltre lined a single to center to put the Rangers ahead.
"I think anytime you lose an extra-inning game, that's a tough loss," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Especially after you battle back against a pretty good opponent. A real good opponent. Maybe the best opponent we've seen so far as far as a 25-man roster. ... You battle back, you battle back and have a chance a couple of times in the eighth and ninth inning and don't get it."
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