Rangers beat Giants, 4-2, with help from two who beat the odds

The first pick of the 1999 draft was a high school outfielder from North Carolina. The Texas Rangers used their top pick that year on a junior college pitcher from Bakersfield.

For Josh Hamilton and Colby Lewis, for so many years, the World Series was the least of their concerns. Hamilton struggled to overcome drug addiction. Lewis journeyed to Japan to save his career.

After more than a decade of detours, October glory is theirs.

We have a Series after all. The Rangers recorded the first Series victory in franchise history, a 4-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants in which Hamilton hit a home run and Lewis carried a shutout into the seventh inning.

“It’s a dream,” Manager Ron Washington said, “a dream come true.”

The Giants lead the series, two games to one, but they must wonder how to proceed should the series extend to the full seven games.

Jonathan Sanchez, who would be in line to start Game 7 for San Francisco, had his second consecutive poor postseason outing.

After failing to survive the third inning in the final game of the National League Championship Series, he failed to last five innings Saturday. Rookie Madison Bumgarner, who starts Game 4 on Sunday, could start a possible Game 7 on short rest.

Another rookie delivered perhaps the biggest hit Saturday, with the Rangers’ Mitch Moreland putting his team ahead for good with a three-run home run in the second inning. Moreland, holding down first base after Chris Davis, Justin Smoak and Jorge Cantu could not this season, is batting .500 in the Series and .341 in postseason play.

Hamilton, who lost three full seasons and most of a fourth in a well-chronicled battle with drug addiction, mashed a 426-foot home run in the fifth inning. He circled the bases to fireworks, and to the music of “The Natural.”

In his first 10 at-bats of the Series, the probable American League most valuable player had nine outs and one single.

“It’s pretty sweet, but at the same time I was thinking about the couple at-bats before that,” Hamilton said.

“It was all great. I’ve got some family in town. Crowd was good, fireworks were awesome, but that’s what we try to do. We try to entertain folks.”

Lewis took it from there. He gave up two runs in 7 2/3 innings — Cody Ross homered in the seventh, Andres Torres in the eighth — and Darren O’Day got the last out of the eighth inning.

Neftali Feliz, the Rangers’ closer, working for the first time in eight days, pitched a perfect ninth inning for the save.

The Rangers selected Lewis with the 38th pick of the 1999 draft, immediately after the Dodgers had picked outfielder Jason Repko. Lewis got to the major leagues in three years, won 12 games over the next three and then tore his rotator cuff.

He went six years between major league victories, in the interim bouncing from Detroit to Washington to Oakland, to Japan’s Hiroshima Carp and, this year, back to the Rangers.

“I feel very fortunate to be on this stage,” Lewis said. “I was in Japan for the last two years not thinking I would have this opportunity. I’m here trying to make the most of it.”

He has won three games this October, all after Texas losses. He won Saturday, when another Texas loss would have meant virtual Series oblivion. As he walked off the mound, he had an entire stadium chanting his name.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” he said “I get goose bumps thinking about it right now.”

bill.shaikin@latimes.com