Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Texas Rangers 13, Seattle Mariners 12 (10 Innings)

By Pegasus News wire

ARLINGTON — The Texas Rangers provided their fans with plenty of entertainment value Monday night, as they defeated the sinking Seattle Mariners 13-12 at Rangers Ballpark. The Rangers are now 19-21 after winning 10 of their last 13 games.

Photo not provided by the Texas Rangers

The Rangers' new slogan seems to be paying off

In the previous meeting between these two teams, Mariners slugger Richie Sexson charged the mound after a high pitch, sparking a bench-clearing brawl and giving himself some much-needed time off with a six game suspension. Sexson was not in attendance tonight, but his team came out charging in the first, scoring five runs before the Rangers got out of the inning.

The Rangers clawed back, however, scoring four runs apiece in the third and seventh innings, and were actually leading 12-8 before Seattle stormed back once again in the top of the ninth to tie it at 12-all. All four runs came against struggling closer C.J. Wilson.

Light-hitting third baseman Ramón Vázquez ended it in the tenth, however, with a walk-off solo home run. Reliever Doug Mathis pitched a perfect tenth in his first-ever major league game for the win.

Several Rangers hitters had terrific games. Josh Hamilton pounded in four more RBI, and now leads the majors with 43 RBI in 40 games. Ian Kinsler went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, while catcher Gerald Laird went 2-for-5 with three runs scored.

As a team, the Rangers collected 14 hits and 13 walks, the highest walk total for the Rangers since 1996. The Mariners, by contrast, had just a single walk to their credit.

Posted by Todd M.

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