The Rangers had been godawful in Yankee Stadium the last few years. Oh, we’d get a win here and there to show we had a small pulse, but we’ve been effectively target practice for the Yankees. Not this year. After last night’s extremely well pitched game, we get another – and our second win in a row in Yankee stadium in as long as I can remember.
Kevin Millwood went for the Rangers, and had a pretty good outing. Went five innings, giving up five hits and a walk for one earned run. Struck out six. Funny thing is after just 84 pitches, he was out after five. I admit I passed out on the sofa for a bit there, so it’s possible there was an explanation and I missed it.
Josh Rupe followed and ended up with a blown save, as he gave up the tying run; his only in two innings. Frank Francisco followed with a scoreless frame. CJ Wilson closed it out, and after getting a double play, seemed absolutely fired up – got the final out on three pitches. Two strikes at 95+ on the radar gun, and the third was a ground out that shattered the bat. Was a great ending to this.
Offensively the Rangers had just nine hits. Six of them were by Kinsler, Young, & Bradley who had two each. But the big thing was Ian Kinsler, who ran us into this win. In the ninth inning, Ian got on, then stole second, and then stole third, and scored on a single in the top of the ninth. It was quite impressive to get the win against Rivera.
As a Ranger fan, you feel positively giddy about the lofty perch of three games over .500 – and to do it against Rivera and the Yankees made it a whole lot better. Dare we think sweep on Wednesday?
That win was sweeeet!
It’s been nice to see the Rangers win a couple of low-scoring games. Good pitching. Good defense. Haven’t seen enough of that combination in games in recent years. Hope that continues.