This was the first of two games played on Thursday. Was a split squad deal with one game being during the day, and the other during the night.
This was another of those no pitching games. I talk about that lot. This would be a story where you wouldn’t write about the pitching at all, since there was virtually none of it good. Today’s no exception, and there was one extra lovely piece of news coming out of this game which I’ll get to later.
The game was one of these kind. Rangers up 2-0, tied 2-2, Rangers up 6-2, tied 6-6, Rangers down 8-6, Rangers up 10-8, tied 10-10, Rangers down 12-10, Rangers up 15-10, final score 15-13. Of the 18 half innings, nine of them had scoring going on, including three innings where there were more than 2 scored (fortunately, all three of those were by the Rangers – 4 in 3rd, 4 in 6th, 5 in 8th).
The box score also looked weird, as this was one of those games in an NL park, and the Rangers got permission to use the DH. So other than pitchers, we had just two subs – the other seven starts played out the game. Not on the Reds side. Everyone was subbed out, and the ninth slot had 7 names in it alone. That’s why I don’t like scoring spring training games.
The Rangers had 17 hits in all, and there was a good percentage of power. Moreland, German, Cruz, & Borbon all doubled. Chris Davis & Nelson Cruz also had home runs – but Cruz was the story.
He finally woke up, and was EASILY the leader in offense this game. 3-4 with SIX RBI’s and two runs scored. 4 of the 6 RBI’s came from a grand slam in the third inning.
The hits were pretty sorted out. The only started who took an ofer was Matt Treanor. Everyone else was hitting. In fact, most guys had more than one. Only Blanco & Chris Davis had single hits.
Pitching? Bah – it stunk. BUT the worst part was Tommy Hunter came out of the game with an injury that is expected to keep him out six weeks. That’s three springs in a row that he’s had an end of camp injury. He’ll start later, and it makes for an interesting discussion on Starter #5, but man. Dude can’t catch a break. Feel bad for him.