Monday, July 14, 2008

Texas Rangers 12, Chicago White Sox 11

By Pegasus News wire

ARLINGTON — The Texas Rangers survived one of the worst-pitched slugfests in recent memory Sunday afternoon, defeating the Chicago White Sox 12-11 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The win improves the Rangers to 50-46 heading into the All-Star break.

Photo not provided by the Texas Rangers

Arlington hadn't seen pitching that bad since the early 90s

The game featured 23 runs, 39 hits and four errors, and no lead was safe until the final called strike in the top of the ninth. The Rangers were ahead 12-8 heading into the ninth, when C.J. Wilson came in to close the game and nearly blew it. Wilson gave up a seemingly endless series of singles to White Sox hitters, and a four-run lead was gradually chipped away to a three-run lead with no outs, the bases loaded and one of the league's top hitters in Carlos Quentin at the plate.

Quentin, however, popped up for the first out of the inning. Jermaine Dye then singled in two runs to make it 12-11, but with men on first and second Wilson was able to get Jim Thome and Paul Konerko to strike out looking. In a game where his team collected 22 hits, Konerko went 0-for-6 with a strikeout, an error and nine men left on base.

No Rangers pitcher pitched particularly well, with starter Matt Harrison getting ousted before the end of the third. Harrison already put the Rangers in a 2-0 hole three pitches in, and ended up giving up five runs in two-plus innings. He was relieved by Dustin Nippert, who pitched himself into and out of jams, including a bases-loaded situation in the top of the fourth.

Several Rangers had huge offensive days, including Ian Kinsler, who extended his hitting streak to 25 games with a three-hit performance. Kinsler collected a pair of doubles, a run scored and three RBI, and leads the AL with a .337 average.

Michael Young was suffering at the plate until the seventh, when he drove in the crucial runs with a bases-loaded, two-run two-out single to make it 10-7. Josh Hamilton was, surprisingly, a no-show on this Day of Offense, going 0-for-4 with a walk, and ending his streak of games with an RBI at eight. Hamilton's streak of multi-RBI games also ended, at five.

Three Rangers rookies had huge days in the bottom half of the lineup. David Murphy went 3-for-5 with three runs and a stolen base, Chris Davis went 2-for-3 with two walks and three runs scored, while pleasant surprise Max Ramirez collected three huge hits and drove in 3 clutch RBI.

Posted by Todd M.

Related stories

• Minnesota Twins 14, Texas Rangers 2 (July 20, 2008)
• Pegasus News Week in View: Next Generation Edition (July 17, 2008)

See more stories in:

• Baseball > MLB > Rangers

Comments

John McClelland Verified

I heard it was also Texas Legislature Night and my opponent didn't show. I know they were playing the White Sox, but I still would have went if invited.

Maybe we can have Democrats Night during one of the Yankees games?

1 year, 3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )