Derek Holland has been making a lot of noise this spring so far that the goofy side of him is not his dominant side, and that he works rather hard on his pitching side. He wants to downplay the goofiness (but I hope not eliminate it, as that made him more fun). This outing shows that he is handling the pitching side quite well. This game he started and went three innings. Allowed just three hits and a single run, while striking out four. More strikeouts than innings is ALWAYS a good thing.
This game, the starter was the only one who gave up runs. Granted, it was just ONE run, but still. The one run the Indians got was charged to Derek Holland. The other five Rangers pitchers (Reynolds, Beimel, Cotts, Stetter, & Kirkman) all threw scoreless innings – although Reynolds went two. Reynolds was the best of the day as he went two innings, and was perfect. Stetter & Kirkman were also perfect. Beimel & Cotts only allowed one hit each (although Beimel walked one guy). So yeah, our pitching was quite good this game. Combined the staff went: 9IP, 5H, 1ER, 1BB, 8K.
On the other side, I’m surprised we didn’t score more than six runs to be honest. We had 13 hits, and the Indians helped out with two walks and FOUR errors! A win is a win, obviously, but given those numbers, you’d think we would have scored at least 10. As it is, only two of the six runs were unearned.
Julio Borbon was on the move. He’s someone who has something to prove this spring, and he was off and running today. He stole a base and was caught once. As I said earlier in the spring, he needs to prove himself, so I’m not surprised to see those stats in the box score.
The Rangers had five doubles, a triple, and seven singles. The leader here I’d say is spring training invite Luis Martinez. He went 2-3 with an RBI. The two hits were a double and a triple. In fact, only three guys had two hits. Martinez, Mitch Moreland, & Yangervis Solarte. Everyone else had just one, which made for a pretty spread out column of “H” in the box score.
Nelson Cruz got hit by a pitch in this game, and reports afterwards say he’s fine. Don’t want to see that. I’d love to see him go a full season, and stay on the field. Would love to see his stat column in October after a healthy, full year.
Well, to repeat myself, a win is a win. Always like a win, but I can’t find anything earth shattering to write about in this one. Granted, I’m writing it three days later, but still. :)