This game was all about home runs. There were quite a few of them.
Josh Hamilton – Two run shot in first inning off of Sean O’Sullivan
Josh Hamilton – Three run shot in second inning of of Sean O’Sullivan
Chris Davis – Solo shot in fifth off of Darren Oliver
Taylor Teagarden – Three run shot in seventh off of Marc Bulger
That wasn’t all the offense, mind you, but those four hits (of the 17 we had total) accounted for nine of the thirteen runs we had in total, so I’d say that was the game right there. While I didn’t hear or see it, the stories say that the home run by Chris Davis was probably the furthest hit of the spring. We don’t get distance calls in spring training (why not?), but the reports say it went totally over the berm and the party tent beyond that. Sounds like a titanic shot to me.
Two other hits were extra base jobs, both doubles (one by Chris Davis, one by Nelson Cruz). The remaining eleven hits were all singles. With seventeen hits total, you know there were several guys with multiple hits. A glance at the box score shows this to be true. Kinsler was 3-4, Young was 2-3, Hamilton was 2-5, Chris Davis was 3-4, even Elvis Andrus was 2-3. Everyone else had just one hit.
Brandon McCarthy started the game, and was OK. I’m unclear why he came out when he did (I can’t really figure that out by the box score), but he went four innings, gave up just two runs on six hits and no walks. Normally I’d pass that off on pitch count, but we don’t get that in spring box scores, either. Derrick Turnbow had the worst performance, giving up a three run home run to Torii Hunter in the sixth. Warner Madrigal & Frank Francisco each gave up a solo run in their respective innings. The only zeroes were CJ Wilson & Josh Rupe.
Nice to see the big sticks come out against a division foe. Hopefully that can continue into the regular season.