The Rangers got out early in this game, and never looked back. Colby Lewis started the game. It was supposed to be CJ Wilson, but he came down with a case of food poisoning and couldn’t start. So Lewis took the hill, and did a pretty great job.
He came out a bit earlier than I think he should have, but he did get into a bit of trouble in the sixth – mostly due to his high pitch count (117 in 5.1 innings) Overall, his line was not bad outside of that. 5.1 innings pitched, three hits, four walks, and two earned runs. However, the big deal in his line was the strikeouts. TEN of them in 5.1 innings. That’s sixteen outs on his ledger, and ten were strikeouts. Makes me wish he didn’t throw so many pitches, as he probably could have gotten way more than 10.
Dustin Nippert, Darren Oliver, Chris Ray, & Neftali Feliz came in after him. None of them allowed any runs. Although Ray allowed two walks in 0.2 innings. Feliz got his second save.
But this game was more about offense. First off, the Rangers had 15 hits total. Only Michael Young had none. He’s now batting .156 for the season. He’ll eventually be fine, but it is a very Mark Teixeira style slow start for him. Arias only had one hit, lowering his batting average to just .440 :) Josh Hamilton came alive. 3-4 this game. He drove in the first RBI of the game in the first inning. Elvis Andrus also had three hits. Pedro Borbon woke up a bit after being virtually asleep offensively so far. 2-4 with two RBI’s and a run scored. Chris Davis had two doubles. But the big exclamation point was Nelson Cruz, who had another home run. Sadly it was a solo shot, as Josh Hamilton was thrown out trying to steal third right before the home run.
The win felt good, and felt like a game we were going to win almost immediately. We’re now 5-3, and are in first place in the AL West. That’s quite cool. :)
First Place Texas Rangers sounds great! Just think, we should be 7-1 if it wasnt for the two blown saves.