The Rangers came into this series just having swept the Marlins, a team that’s not upper echelon, but still a decent team. We travel to Houston here to play a team that’s not too far removed from the Pittsburgh Pirates (our opponent after Houston, but nevermind). If there’s one thing the Rangers have had trouble with in the last few years, it’s taking care of teams they should take care of.
With that in mind, we get to Houston to take on an Astros team that is, and let’s be nice, not very good. The Astros threw out Wandy Rodriguez against the Rangers, and well, he stunk. He only lasted three innings, giving up the big ol crooked number the Rangers got in the top of the third. Four hits, four walks, and six earned runs in three innings. Not very good.
On the flip side of that, the Rangers sent out Scott Feldman, who has been better the last few starts than the “meh” he’s been up until now. This time, he got the win (his fifth), while walking just one, but allowing nine hits. He went seven, so it wasn’t as bad as all that. All thee runs the Astros got were on singles in the bottom of the sixth. Scott came out for a scoreless seventh, so I don’t think it really was “out of gas” there.
Scott even got in on the offense, pitching in with a double, that he later scored on. :)
Once again, Josh Hamilton tore it up. 3-5 with two runs scored and two RBI’s. The man is on fire for sure. A couple of singles and a triple for him. Smoak & Treanor were both 2-5, and Borbon was 2-4 with a walk. The Rangers had twelve hits in all, so it was some nice offense. Justin Smoak jacked a second deck home run in the fifth, good for a two spot.
Overall, a nice way to come into Houston and take the first game of the series.