Sunday, June 8, 2008

Tampa Bay Rays 5, Texas Rangers 4

By Pegasus News wire

ARLINGTON — The Texas Rangers once again seemed unable to defeat the once-laughingstock Rays Saturday night, losing a5-4 pitchers duel at Rangers Ballpark. The loss was the fifth in the last seven games for Texas, and dropped them to 31-33 on the season.

Photo not provided by the Tampa Bay Rays

The 2008 Rays are Mighty

The game came down to the bottom of the ninth, when Texas, down 5-3, almost tied the game. After Ramón Vázquez, Ian Kinsler and Chris Shelton loaded the bases, Josh Hamilton came up to bat. Hamilton had previously been 4-for-6 with 14 RBI when the bases were loaded, but was only able to weakly hit an infield grounder. Vázquez scored to make it 5-4, while Shelton was forced out at second. Milton Bradley --who has arguably been the hottest bat in the Rangers lineup the last seven games-- was then retired by Rays closer Dan Wheeler to end the game.

Bradley did manage to have a good day prior to the ninth, going 2-for-5 with a double and yet another home run, his sixth in the last seven games. Bradley is now leading the American League in hitting at .338, while also providing the Rangers with 14 home runs, just behind teammate Josh Hamilton's 17.

Hamilton's ninth-inning RBI was his 69th of the year, a full 13 ahead of anyone else in the major leagues. Hamilton went 0-for-5, however, to lower his batting average to .315.

Micheal Young also had a good day, collecting a pair of singles to extend his major-league best hitting streak to 22 games, just three below his career high. Ian Kinsler went 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles, and is now hitting .307.

Rangers starter Scott Feldman had a good day on the mound, lasting seven solid innings in which he gave up just two runs off five hits. Feldman walked two and struck out five, but his relievers, Joaquín Benoit and Jamey Wright, gave up the game-winning three runs in the final two innings.

Posted by Todd M.

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