I normally dislike extra innings games, as I’ve said before, because most of the time it feels like we lose them in the 10th inning. There’s a feeling that it’s more “sudden death”, and if we get behind, it’s over. So I like it a lot when we win in extra innings – it feels more “earned” or something. :)
Scott Feldman started this game, and gave us a good one this time out, so that means the next one won’t be good, I guess. 6.1 innings, six hits, and three earned runs. Struck out six. Game out with 97 pitches thrown. So it was a good outing, if not a dominant one. Given 2012 Feldman, just “good” is good enough. The bullpen was mostly OK, except for the first reliever (Kirkman). Kirkman gave up just one hit, but it was a home run, and tied the game up, sending it to extras. Scheppers, Adams, & Nathan finished up, and didn’t allow anything else. Nathan getting his 30th save. In fact, Nathan got out facing four batters and throwing 10 pitches, so he was pretty good.
Offensively, the big deal here was the fourth inning when we scored three runs. That was powered by back to back home runs by Josh Hamilton & Adrian Beltre, our big power in the lineup. Hamilton’s was a two run shot. Adrian soloed. Back to back is always cool, as I just said a few games ago. Outside of that, we had a double by Geovany Soto, whose stock is rising with Texas. Ian Kinsler had a triple, so there was a lot going on, not just a bunch of singles. :)