After never having accomplished the feat in the first 26 years of the team’s existance, the Rangers pulled it off for the third time in less than a year, having done the back-to-back-to-back home run thing. :) This time it was Juan, Raffy, & Pudge. Only earlier in the week, it was three other guys, one of which being Pudge, and last year when it was done for the first time, Pudge was also involved (with Juan & Will Clark).
We started this game with a 5 run first inning (similar to the game against the Yankees with Roger Clemens). It was enough to hold on for the win – we didn’t need any more, but we did get one more later on in the game in the 7th inning.
Aaron Sele pitched well, but spectacurly. He lasted into the 7th inning, giving up four runs. Was OK, but he is improving – it seems that our entire staff is coming around. Which is nice. With the kids coming up doing a great job, it’s nice to see our established pitching getting it together. I’d love to put some distance between us and the rest of the division as we approach the 50th game of the season.
Kinda tired – not going to write much about this one. :)
Line Score AL FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - - MINNESOTA 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 8 0 TEXAS 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 x 6 10 1 (FINAL) BATTERIES: MIN - BRAD RADKE, TRAVIS MILLER (7TH), BOB WELLS (7TH), GARY RATH (7TH), MIKE TROMBLEY (7TH) AND TERRY STEINBACH TEX - AARON SELE, JEFF ZIMMERMAN (7TH), JOHN WETTELAND (9TH) AND IVAN RODRIGUEZ WP - AARON SELE (4-4) LP - BRAD RADKE (4-4) SAVE - JOHN WETTELAND (15) HOME RUNS: MIN - NONE TEX - JUAN GONZALEZ (13) OFF B RADKE IN THE 1ST, 1 ON RAFAEL PALMEIRO (14) OFF B RADKE IN THE 1ST, 0 ON IVAN RODRIGUEZ (10) OFF B RADKE IN THE 1ST, 0 ON TIME: 2:42 ATT: 27,765 PROBABLES: MIN - ERIC MILTON (2-4, 6.79) TEX - MIKE MORGAN (6-4, 6.26) Box Score MINNESOTA (4) AT TEXAS (6) - FINAL MINNESOTA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg T Walker 2b 5 1 2 2 0 1 1 .268 Allen lf 3 0 2 1 1 0 1 .284 Lawton rf 3 0 0 0 0 2 3 .274 M Cordova dh 4 0 1 0 0 2 1 .284 Coomer 3b 4 0 1 0 0 1 3 .327 Mientkiewicz 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 .241 Steinbach c 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 .284 T Hunter cf 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 .224 a-Gates ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .228 Hocking ss 3 2 2 0 1 0 0 .250 Totals 33 4 8 3 3 7 14 a-grounded to shortstop for T Hunter in the 9th. BATTING: 2B - T Walker (13, Sele); Hocking (4, Sele); Coomer (11, Je Zimmerman). RBI - T Walker 2 (13), Allen (16). 2-out RBI - T Walker. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - Lawton 1, Steinbach 1. GIDP - Lawton, Allen. Team LOB - 6. BASERUNNING: Picked off - Allen (1st base, I Rodriguez). FIELDING: DP: 1 (T Walker-Hocking-Mientkiewicz). TEXAS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg T Goodwin cf 3 1 0 0 1 1 3 .228 Mclemore 2b 3 2 2 0 1 0 0 .338 Greer lf 4 0 1 1 0 1 1 .306 J Gonzalez rf 3 1 2 3 0 0 2 .312 R Palmeiro dh 3 1 1 1 1 0 2 .377 I Rodriguez c 4 1 1 1 0 1 3 .315 Zeile 3b 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 .262 L Stevens 1b 4 0 1 0 0 2 1 .325 Clayton ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 .209 Totals 32 6 10 6 3 6 13 BATTING: 2B - Greer (19, B Radke); Zeile (14, B Radke). HR - J Gonzalez (13, 1st inning off B Radke 1 on, 1 out); R Palmeiro (14, 1st inning off B Radke 0 on, 1 out); I Rodriguez (10, 1st inning off B Radke 0 on, 1 out). SF - J Gonzalez. RBI - Greer (39), J Gonzalez 3 (44), R Palmeiro (40), I Rodriguez (32). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - T Goodwin 2, I Rodriguez 2. GIDP - R Palmeiro. Team LOB - 6. FIELDING: E - Clayton (4, ground ball). DP: 2 (Zeile-Mclemore-L Stevens, Mclemore-L Stevens-Clayton-Mclemore). MINNESOTA ip h r er bb so hr era B Radke (L, 4-4) 6 10 6 6 1 4 3 3.82 Travis Miller 1/3 0 0 0 1 1 0 1.93 B Wells 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.61 Rath 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 15.00 Trombley 1 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.14 TEXAS ip h r er bb so hr era Sele (W, 4-4) 6 2/3 6 4 4 3 3 0 5.98 Je Zimmerman (H, 6) 1 1/3 2 0 0 0 3 0 1.36 Wetteland (S, 15) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 4.34 Rath pitched to 1 batter in the 7th. HBP - Lawton (by Sele). Pitches-strikes: Sele 102-61; Je Zimmerman 25-16; Wetteland 10-8; B Radke 94-61; Travis Miller 11-4; B Wells 3-1; Rath 5-1; Trombley 13-8. Ground balls-fly balls: Sele 10-6; Je Zimmerman 0-1; Wetteland 1-1; B Radke 9-5; Travis Miller 0-0; B Wells 0-1; Rath 0-0; Trombley 2-1. Batters faced: Sele 28; Je Zimmerman 6; Wetteland 3; B Radke 28; Travis Miller 2; B Wells 1; Rath 1; Trombley 4. UMPIRES: HP--Rich Garcia. 1B--Mike Reilly. 2B--Ray Dimuro. 3B--Tim Welke. T--2:42. Att--27,765. Weather: 76 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 7 mph, right to left. AL MINNESOTA AT TEXAS NOTE: THE HOME RUNS BY TEXAS' JUAN GONZALEZ AND RAFAEL PALMEIRO IN THE FIRST INNING WERE BACK-TO-BACK. AL MINNESOTA AT TEXAS NOTE: THE HOME RUNS BY TEXAS' JUAN GONZALEZ, RAFAEL PALMEIRO, AND IVAN RODRIGUEZ WERE BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK.