You know, for scores like this I usually bring out that graphic about “Time to open a can of big ol American WHOOP-ASS”. The only problem is that the opponent is the Pirates. Does it count as whoopass when you just beat the Pirates? I mean come on. We’re supposed to destroy them. Perhaps if we got to 20.
Yeah, the offense got rolling early. The Rangers put a two spot on the board in the bottom of the first pretty quickly. Elvis Andrus walked and Michael Young homered. Bam – up 2-0 after two batters. That set the tone for the whole night right there. I felt a little bad after the Pirates scored one in the top of the second (no shutdown inning there), but then the ass whooping (OK, I gotta use it a little) got underway in the bottom of the second. The Rangers plated five in that inning. It wasn’t a power based attack either, as the first four of the five runs that inning scored on singles. The last one was a sac fly. No huge blasts there.
As if that wasn’t cool enough, the Rangers did one better in the bottom of the fourth, plating SIX batters. That one wasn’t all singles there, there were a few doubles mixed in there. Usually when the Rangers score that much, there’s some home runs in the mix, but other than that two run shot in the bottom of the first, there wasn’t. Just a bunch of singles. At one point I believe there were four consecutive ones with the bases loaded or something along those lines. Was quite entertaining.
In all, seventeen hits. Just one home run and two doubles. Plus a pile of singles (fourteen of them). Not a lot of power, but a lot of offense just the same.
Pitching wise, we had three pitchers pitch three innings each. Dustin Nippert made another start, and was severely lacking in the “length” department. Only went three, which we need more from – even an emergency spot starter type. Alexi Ogando came in next, and was spectacular again. Three innings of perfect ball. Two strikeouts. Looked awesome. Matt Harrison pitched the final three innings, and got a save, actually. That’s obviously some weird use of the save rule.
But Ogando.. He’s made three major league appearances so far. His ERA is 0.00, and he’s 3-0. In three relief appearances! Yeesh!