Wow. I didn’t think it would be any worse than the 3 hit we had tossed against us last week by the Tigers. It was. We were two hit tonight, and one of the hits was a leadoff triple by Mike Young that we left there.
Wow. Esteban Yan never pitched like that when he wore the Ranger uniform.
Wow. There was some serious wind blowing out to left, and helped at least one, probably two (but not Pudge’s that was a true blast) of the home run balls out to left. Speaking of that, we probably would have had two ourselves in a ballpark that wasn’t so cavernous.
Wow. What a play by Hank Blalock to almost throw out Pudge. While the umps reversed the call and got it right, Blalock made one HELL of a play. Would have been a season highlight reel one, that’s for sure. EY had a great running leaping catch in center field, too.
Not wow. Benoit continues to be mediocre most of the time. Too bad Colby Lewis is out for the season now, it means Benoit will be in the rotation longer.
The final indignity of this is that the game ended with a top of the ninth where the Rangers went down on three pitches.
Line Score AL FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - - TEXAS 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 DETROIT 1 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 x 7 9 0 (FINAL) BATTERIES: TEX - JOAQUIN BENOIT, FRANK FRANCISCO (7TH) AND ROD BARAJAS DET - GARY KNOTTS, ESTEBAN YAN (6TH) AND IVAN RODRIGUEZ WP - GARY KNOTTS (1-0) LP - JOAQUIN BENOIT (1-1) SAVE - ESTEBAN YAN (2) HOME RUNS: TEX - NONE DET - BRANDON INGE (4) OFF JOAQUIN BENOIT IN THE 2ND, 0 ON OMAR INFANTE (1) OFF JOAQUIN BENOIT IN THE 2ND, 0 ON IVAN RODRIGUEZ (7) OFF JOAQUIN BENOIT IN THE 6TH, 1 ON TIME: 2:27 ATT: 22,449 PROBABLES: TEX - KENNY ROGERS (4-2, 3.54) DET - NATE ROBERTSON (2-2, 5.40) Box Score TEXAS (1) VS DETROIT (7) - FINAL TEXAS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg M Young ss 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 .368 H Blalock 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .304 A Soriano 2b 4 0 0 0 0 3 1 .306 B Fullmer dh 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 .238 M Teixeira 1b 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 .208 E Young cf 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .305 B Jordan rf 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 .094 K Mench lf 3 0 0 1 0 0 1 .306 R Barajas c 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 .286 Totals 28 1 2 1 1 9 6 BATTING: 2B - M Teixeira (4, G Knotts). 3B - M Young (4, G Knotts). S - E Young. RBI - K Mench (17). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - B Fullmer 1. Team LOB - 3. FIELDING: DP: 1 (M Young-A Soriano-M Teixeira). DETROIT ab r h rbi bb so lob avg C Guillen ss 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 .320 B Higginson rf 4 2 2 0 0 1 0 .263 I Rodriguez c 4 2 2 2 0 1 0 .358 R White dh 4 0 2 1 0 0 0 .326 J Smith pr 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 C Pena 1b 3 0 0 0 1 2 3 .223 C Monroe lf 4 0 1 1 0 1 1 .239 G Norton 3b 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 .113 B Inge cf 3 1 1 1 0 0 0 .293 O Infante 2b 2 1 1 1 1 0 0 .257 Totals 31 7 9 6 3 8 6 BATTING: 2B - B Higginson (4, J Benoit). HR - B Inge (4, 2nd inning off J Benoit 0 on, 2 Out), O Infante (1, 2nd inning off J Benoit 0 on, 2 Out), I Rodriguez (7, 6th inning off J Benoit 1 on, 0 Out). RBI - R White (29), B Inge (18), O Infante (3), I Rodriguez 2 (32), C Monroe (9). 2-out RBI - R White, B Inge, O Infante, C Monroe. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - C Pena 1, B Inge 2. GIDP - C Guillen. Team LOB - 4. BASERUNNING: CS - C Pena (1, 2nd base by J Benoit/R Barajas). ---------------------------------------------------- TEXAS - 000 010 000 -- 1 DETROIT - 120 002 02x -- 7 ---------------------------------------------------- TEXAS ip h r er bb so hr era J Benoit (L, 1-1) 6 1/3 6 5 5 1 6 3 5.10 F Francisco 1 2/3 3 2 2 2 2 0 10.80 DETROIT ip h r er bb so hr era G Knotts (W, 1-0) 5 2 1 1 1 5 0 5.23 E Yan (S, 2) 4 0 0 0 0 4 0 4.26 G Knotts pitched to 1 batter in the 6th. WP - J Benoit. BALK - F Francisco. HBP - R Barajas (by G Knotts); B Inge (by J Benoit). Pitches-strikes: J Benoit 100-63; F Francisco 45-25; G Knotts 67-44; E Yan 38-28. Ground balls-fly balls: J Benoit 4-8; F Francisco 2-1; G Knotts 5-5; E Yan 4-4. Batters faced: J Benoit 26; F Francisco 9; G Knotts 19; E Yan 12. UMPIRES: HP--Larry Vanover. 1B--Sam Holbrook. 2B--Paul Nauert. 3B--Randy Marsh. T--2:27. Att--22,449. Weather: 76 degrees, overcast. Wind: 18 mph, right to left.