Through six innings, this game felt a lot like the game that preceded it. Rangers starter wasn’t exactly bad, but his line was not great at the end. Vicente Padilla was the 2007 version of himself. Not bad, but not really that good. His final line was six innings, seven hits, three walks, five runs (four earned). Meh. He was victimized most by Mark Grudzajklwslfkkzb (har) who had a double, and a two run home run, and four RBI’s in all. The Royals picked away with small amounts of runs (two in the third, one in the fifth, two in the sixth) until we were down 5-1 going into the seventh.
Kyle Davies started for Kansas City, and pitched like Gil Meche did the game before, pretty darned well. Davies allowed just a single run over his six innings pitched. He did walk a lot – five, to go with six hits. But he got outs when they counted. Then we got to the Kansas City bullpen.
Then we got to the seventh where it seemed Kansas City just couldn’t get anyone out. To save time, I’ll post the play by play from the game. It pretty much tells the story, but I’d be remiss in mentioning the big blast – a grand slam by David Murphy, his first ever career slam. Came off a lefty, too.
Rangers 7th (Rangers 8, Royals 5) — Pitcher Change: J. Fulchino replaces K. Davies. R. Vazquez triples to center field. I. Kinsler reaches on throwing error by M. Aviles, R. Vazquez scores; I. Kinsler to 2nd. M. Young walks. Pitcher Change: J. Gobble replaces J. Fulchino. J. Hamilton singles to center field, I. Kinsler scores; M. Young to 2nd. M. Bradley walks, M. Young to 3rd; J. Hamilton to 2nd. D. Murphy hits a grand slam to right field on a 2-0 pitch, M. Young scores; J. Hamilton scores; M. Bradley scores. M. Byrd doubles to center field. Pitcher Change: Y. Yabuta replaces J. Gobble. F. Catalanotto out on a sacrifice bunt, Y. Yabuta to M. Teahen, M. Byrd to 3rd. G. Laird out on a sacrifice fly to J. Gathright, M. Byrd scores. R. Vazquez grounds out to M. Teahen. (7 Runs, 4 Hits, 1 Errors, 0 LOB)
There was some SERIOUS booing coming from the stands in Kansas City over this inning. We tacked on some more in the ninth with the second home run by David Murphy in the game (a solo shot). We got two more on some more singles. It was a pretty good offense this night. Yeah, it’s Kansas City, but you always like seeing more runs than less.
I also take responsibility for ending Michael Young’s hitting streak. I posted that graphic yesterday of Gabe Kapler’s 28 game hitting streak from some years ago, and then Young’s stopped at 23. :)