The Rangers didn’t fare much better against Brett Cecil the second time around.
Here’s something telling. The Rangers had ten hits. We left eight men on base as a team. If you count individual player left on base numbers, that was TWENTY! No wonder we didn’t win this game. Couldn’t get it done when it mattered most.
Bret Cecil had a lot to do with that – again. 7 innings pitched, seven hits, one walk, six strikeouts, and one earned run. Came out with just 94 pitches thrown, not a lot, so I’m not entirely sure why he came out when he did. No matter, the Rangers didn’t get it done against him. That’s two in a row in a week. His overall record is 4-4. Two of those wins are against the Rangers. I’ll repeat something from an update a few days ago. Bah.
Alexi Ogando started for Texas (again against Cecil), and fared the same. Pitched OK, but didn’t get the win. Ogando only went 5.2 innings this time, and gave up just four hits, but four WALKS. That’s excessive for him. All those walks didn’t help. Oddly enough, none of them factored into the three runs. Those runs in the sixth came on a single, single, and a three run home run. Two of the walks were the last two batters Ogando faced in the sixth.
Tommy Hunter came in to relieve Ogando and was masterful. He went 2.1 innings, threw just 32 pitches, and allowed just a single hit. No runs, no walks, he looked quite good. I guess that’s what Baltimore saw, as I write this, we just traded him to the Orioles (more on that in another post).
We did make it interesting in the ninth, putting up a second run to make it 3-2 at the time. Mike Napoli started the inning off with a solo home run. Mitch Moreland followed it with a single. A ground out, a strike out (Davis), and a pop out ended the game and the comeback. Rangers lost 3-2.
Game ended on… wait for it… a popup by Ian Kinsler.