This was the first of two games today as the Rangers did the split squad thing, also playing against the Padres in another game. But before we get to that..
Where was this game in the final series of last season? Gah! Could have saved ourselves from that mess that was the Orioles game in the playoffs! Barf. Anyway…
This was the game managed by Jackie Moore, as Wash was with the other squad. Also, in reading about the game, they wanted Nick Tepesch to pitch in this game, so more team officials could see him, as this one was played in Surprise. He’s been the talk of camp so far, coming out of seemingly nowhere (to most Rangers fans not named Newberg), and becoming a realistic starter option for the fifth starters job. He started this game, went three innings, giving up three hits and three walks, but just one run while striking out three. Not the most stellar line, but certainly got the job done. Didn’t embarrass himself out there. Few too many pitches, though (59 over 3 innings), but that probably was due to the walks.
The Rangers threw out six relievers after Tepesch, most of which you won’t hear from after the first round of cuts, but.. Early spring favorite Joe Ortiz threw a scoreless inning, and likely bullpen guy Jason Frasor also did the same. The rest of the guys we’re probably not hearing from again. Oddly enough, the guy who gave up the other two runs (Colin Balester) was the same guy who got the win!
Surprisingly enough, being a split squad game, the Rangers team that started the game had 7 regulars on the field (8 if you count Tepesch) who will be with the club when the season opens. That’s a lot for a split squad game, athough this is the non travel game. :) The Rangers had nine hits, and nobody had more than one, so it was spread around. There was one home run (Snyder), and one double (Schmidt). The rest were all singles. Had three walks to go with this, and it was definitely an “in bunches” offense here.
Still would have liked to have traded this win against the A’s against any of the ones in the final regular season series of 2012, that’s for sure.