The Chicago Cubs came to town this weekend, bringing with them a few ex Rangers. Coming back for a visit are Marlon Byrd, Alfonso Soriano, & pitching coach Rudy Jaramillo. Of those, I probably missed Marlon Byrd the most. They did show one guy in the stands doing the Birdman dance, which I thought was a blast during his time here.
The Rangers put a pitcher out there who has his own “brought back” story with the Rangers this year, that being Colby Lewis. Colby’s done well this season, and he got the win here, too. But he wasn’t as dominating. He went six innings, and qualified for a “quality start”, but in the six innings, he gave up five hits and three walks. 109 pitches. Bit too laboring, but still was good enough to get the job done.
Our bullpen kept it under control, although Frankie made it a bit rocky with two hits in his inning of work. Still, none of the three relievers (O’Day, Francisco, Feliz) gave up any runs, which is essential in a game with a score like this.
The Rangers scored their only two runs on a series of plays in the fourth inning that looked a lot like kiddie baseball. Kinsler dribbled a ball up the third base line, and the ball was thrown away at first. Going to second, the ball was thrown into left field, and Ian got to third. It was momentarily bobbled and there was a moment where you thought Kinsler might try going all the way around, but he stopped at third. This was followed by some Rangers offense – the extra base hit. Vlad Guerrero doubled, and then Nelson Cruz doubled. That accounted for all of our offense. Josh Hamilton also had a double, but everything else was a single. Lou Piniella seemed to enjoy the carosuel of errors. hahaha. :)
Speaking of Josh, he laid down a bunt this game, which definitely was a bit of a surprise. :)
The 2-1 win was very nice to see.