Colby Lewis took the hill to start this game, and I have to say his line is one of the more strange ones I’ve ever seen. Check this out:
7IP, 5H, 6R/ER, 1BB, 12K, 5HR, 114P
That’s right. Five hits, and five home runs. Struck out twelve. It was quite bizarre to listen to. The first three Orioles hit solo home runs, which during the game I saw was the first time that’s ever happened in major league history. It took eight pitches, and the Rangers were down 3-0. However, after that, Colby Lewis settled down. Colby then put down the next 18 Orioles hitters in a row, 10 of which were by strikeout.
He then allowed a couple more home runs in the 7th to put the Orioles up 6-1 at the time. It was really bizarre. Five home runs and twelve strikeouts. Also heard during the game it was the first time something like that happened – ever. It was amazingly puzzling. That he could strike out that many, and still allow that many home runs. Wow. Mark Lowe came in and pitched a perfect bottom of the 8th, striking out one.
The Rangers got their first run in the top of the fourth when Michael Young doubled and was singled in later by Torrealba. When the Rangers scored, it was just 3-1 at the time, and you felt they could get back into the game at any time. So the bottom of the 7th when we went down 6-1 again was very disappointing. Even the one run we scored in the top of the 8th on a Beltre single didn’t make me feel any better, as we were down 6-2, and I was still reeling from the thought of Lewis’ really strange outing.
We did make it interesting in the ninth though. Cruz led off with a single, Torrealba doubled. After a popout by Moreland, David Murphy had a three run home run to make the score 6-5. But we couldn’t do anything else after that, and the game ended that way. Murphy’s home run made it more annoying. I could have written it all off on a seriously perplexing outing by Colby Lewis, but the Murphy home run gave me hope, and I get more annoyed when the hope is dashed, as opposed to when we get blown out or something. Bah.
Oh, I’m glad the Josh Hamilton home run show ended quickly, that we didn’t get a ton of talk about how much more money he will be getting by all these hits. As it is, he went 1-4, striking out twice. His batting average ended up at .400 after the game. :)
Game was fairly speedy too, lasting only 2:23.
Bring on Game 2.