This game was Matt Harrison vs. Hector Noesi. Noesi is a guy we usually rock pretty well, and while he did lose this game, he pitched pretty well himself, and probably could have used some help from his own offense. But Matt Harrison took care of that. Hector Noesi actually stayed in the game longer than Matt Harrison did. He went eight innings. Matt went seven. Look at these lines:
Matt Harrison: 7IP, 8H, 1R, 2BB, 6K, 114P
Hector Noesi: 8IP, 3H, 3R, 2BB, 7K, 102P
So Noesi was more efficient, except in the one category that it matters most. Runs allowed. The Rangers only had four hits total – and just three off Noesi. They were just bunched together quite nicely. All of our runs came in the top of the third inning. Nelson Cruz walked. Mike Napoli struckout, and then Mitch Moreland walked. Kinsler popped out on an infield fly, and then two of our three hits against Noesi came, and it was the game. Elvis Andrus tripled, scoring Cruz & Moreland. Josh Hamilton then hit a ground rule double, scoring Elvis. The other two hits were singles by Michael Young & Adrian Beltre, but they didn’t amount to anything, and neither came at the same time. That was it for our offense.
Matt Harrison gave up more hits than Noesi did, but Matt’s were all singles, save for one double. And the double didn’t factor into the one run the Mariners got. Matt battled well, and most importantly, didn’t give up any bloody walks. Walks seem to be the killer so far this season.