The Rangers did something they haven’t done in ages. Win two games in a row on the road. It also had a few other things we aren’t doing often. Those are scoring first, coming back from behind to win, and a bunt hit by a Rangers pitcher. It was a game of “oh yeah, I remember when we did that”.
Sammy Sosa got it started early with a single to right, scoring Michael Young. That run was backed up by a solo home run ball by Ramon Vazquez in the second, putting us up 2. Cincinnati got one back off of a pair of doubles in the second, and then on a couple more hits in he third. That tied it up. OK, 2-2 is doable. I can live with that, unlike the 7-1 deficits we’ve been having almost immediately lately. Padilla then gave up a tater in the fourth, as well as a couple of more hits for a two spot, putting us down two. Two is manageable, but I’m tired of us having to come from behind. Padilla is really earning his paycheck here.
The top of the fifth is when Padilla’s bunt hit made an appearance. Was kind of funny to watch him lumber out of the box. Fortunately he was helped out when Cincinnati’s pitcher and catcher tripped over each other, allowing Padilla to be safe. He might have beat it out anyway – it wasn’t the greatest bunt ever, but it was a good one, but the trip up certainly helped. Padilla scored two batters later in a rather ungraceful maneuver going around third. Michael Young walked to load the bases, and then Slammin’ slammed one over the right field wall to pick up four runs. It was nice, and it was his 599th. Course, I’m going to be going to the game on Tuesday, so it will be interesting to see if he keeps #600 for that game. As much as a I have ragged on him the last week, 600 is an impressive number, and it would be kind of cool to see it. Anyway, since it was the fifth, Victor Rojas was announcing this, and while I didn’t hear it (I was watching this on TV), I’m sure Victor did his usual grand slam call by sounding like his lungs were being forcibly ejected from his mouth onto his microphone. :)
The Reds followed up with a two spot in the bottom of the fifth on one of the more impressive looking home runs I’ve seen – an absolute monster of a blast from Adam Dunn – it looked like it was going to completely clear the seats in right field – a task that would have put the ball well over 500 ft. I didn’t even mind that it was such a bomb of a blast.
Anyway, that was it – no more scoring after the fifth. Our pen was solid – five guys (Benoit, Wilson, Francisco, Otsuka, Gagne) did not allow any runs (and only two hits as wel) in their four frames on the hill. Can’t say the same for Padilla, who gave up 6 runs on 12 hits in his 5 innings. Blech. He got a win, but did not pitch like he deserved it. He needs to start hitting people again to at least make it interesting to watch him.
But you have to give congrats to Sosa for this game. 2 for 4 with 5 RBI and a home run (a slam). That was probably the reason we won this one. :)
