Rangers signed Rafael Bournigal this morning. He played a morning practice game, and hit a home run, and was in uniform for today’s MLB game, but will be sent to AAA. No errors last season – batted around .250. The Rangers site hasn’t had any media notes in over a week now. Hope that gets going again once the new season starts up.
We gave up a run very quickly in the first inning – it was weird, they had scored and got three outs on a foul sacrifice fly, which is pretty rare. The runner was a fluke bloop double. The second run seemed like a Loaiza manufactured run, as he fell behind hitters, and then gave up a double and then a single for a few more runs. And then a few more runs… Ugh… I think today shows that Loaiza is out of the starting rotation. Loaiza went 5 innings, gave up 5 runs. Munoz went two innings and gave up two runs. Johnson & Patterson each went 1 inning, giving up nothing.
At the start of the 6th, Bournigal came into the MLB game at shortstop. At this point, we were losing 5-1. The 1 was thanks of a Juan Gonzalez home run the inning before. Bournigal got his first Ranger at bat and got a hit for it, so he’s batting 1.000 so far with the Rangers. :)
The 7th run by the Red Sox was a squeeze play, which you don’t see very often, and you didn’t get to see it here either, as this was a radio only game. :)
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
The Rangers lost their 5th game in their last 6 tries Tuesday. If there ever was a question since last Wednesday who the Rangers’ fifth starter was, it was answered in this game.
Esteban Loaiza continued his terrible spring, giving up another 5 earned runs in 5 innings (bringing his spring ERA ever closer to 9.00). Mike Morgan will be the 5th starter, there’s no doubt, barring injury. Loaiza just might find himself traded, if the Rangers can find the right deal, allowing Jeff Zimmerman to make the staff.
The Rangers’ offense was missing for the 2nd day in a row. Only Juan Gonzalez (who homered in the 4th) and Lee Stevens (a double) managed extra-base hits. The Rangers had only 8 hits and no player had more than 1 hit.
It’s almost time to play for keeps, so this team had better wake up soon or it’s going to be a long season.