The day after we won against Boston in a mashing fun way, we were shut down by their starter Jon Lester. Lester was brilliant, scattering just five hits over eight innings of shutout ball. He didn’t walk anyone, and struck out five. Not a lot on the strikeout side of things, but man, he looked good. Not a surprise that the only run we got came off of Boston reliever Scott Atchison.
That one run was a home run to Josh Hamilton, who probably could even hit Bugs Bunny at the moment. Hamilton was our best offensive player of the night, not just because he accounted for the only run, but his overall line was the best of anyone on the Rangers roster this night. Josh was 2-4 with a run and an RBI. Granted, he drove himself in, but still. Nelson Cruz also had two hits, but they didn’t amount to anything, and the entire rest of the lineup managed just three hits.
Nelson Cruz’s triple off of Lester was bad, as he came out of the game, and had to go on the DL two days later (I’m writing this two days later – ha) due to his running out the triple. It’s a shame he’s been hurt so much, as you’d think he’d have just as good a year as Josh is having if he could stay on the field. Sad.
On our side, Colby Lewis was a hard luck pitcher again, going six plus innings, and allowing just one run. His line wasn’t as dominating as Lester’s, but he certainly pitched well enough for a win. 6.2IP, 6H, 1ER, 2BB, and NINE strikeouts – that’s been Colby’s strength, the strikeout.
Shame he didn’t get the win, as he deserved it.