Robinson Tejeda made his Rangers debut tonight, and pitched fairly decently, except he allowed more walks than innings pitched, which is NEVER good. He did dance along on a tightrope tonight, giving up just two runs in his 5 innings pitched (on said walks plus three hits). I remember him when the Rangers were in Philly last year for interleague, he annihilated us. OK, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but he did seem good. I know a lot of people are waiting for him to dominate, as he cost us David Dellucci in a trade. I think he’ll be fine, probably not an uber stud pitcher, but good indeed. Course, I’m just a fan, so what the hell do I know?
Tejeda was backed up by six relief pitchers over a span of 4 innings (Mahay, Benoit, Wilson, Alfonseca, Cordero, & Otsuka). Cordero in a setup role, and Otsuka, who got his third save of the season.
Offensively, Mark DeRosa continues to flourish since coming back from the “fake DL” :) He was 3 for 4 with a home run and a double. He’s definitely swinging a hot bat at the moment, and I wonder if it will impact Ian Kinsler’s return which should be soon as well. Brad Wilkerson also had a good night going 2 for 2 with a home run, three runs scored, and two walks. He’s raised his batting average to .242 after a horrific start to the season.
We “swept” the Rays in this series, but does it really count as a sweep in a two game series? Yeah, I know by the definition of a sweep it does, but two game series never feel like “series sweeps” to me. Not a lot of Rays fans around to see it, as their attendance was 7,147. Yikes.
Nice to come back home off a 4-1 road trip.