The Rangers might as well have a coronation for Vladimir Guerrero. With a career batting average over .400 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, he is unquestionably the king of the park and will not be overthrown.
Well, he left no doubt in the Royals minds about that, hitting two home runs, including the game-winning shot in the eighth off Royals closer Joaquim Soria. That home right after Josh Hamilton took the ball out against the same guy to tie the game at 12. His first homer came after a Michael Young single in the sixth inning and broke a 9-9 tie at the time.
I’m not sure the Rangers thought they would need Guerrero’s heroics.
Thanks to a 5-hit, 6-run third inning that was capped off by a 3-run shot by Justin Smoak, the Rangers led 8-0 after three innings.
But after a long sit, starter Matt Harrison got shaky, and the Royals took a page out of John Blake’s peck-away theory. Harrison helped them by walking the leadoff hitter, Willie Bloomquist in the fourth. Walking the leadoff hitter, especially after scoring runs, is a major no-no in baseball, and only bad things seem to come from it. Harrison learned that lesson firsthand, courtesy of a Billy Butler two-run homer.
But it didn’t sink in as Harrison also walked Yuniesky Betancourt, a task in itself as the shortstop totaled one free pass on the season coming into the game. Unbelievably, he would walk in consecutive at-bats, the second against Dustin Nippert.
Nippert did not have a happy birthday as he took the brunt of the Royals’ rally, giving up five earned runs in just 1/3 of an inning.
On a single in the fourth inning, the 1,693rd hit of his career, Young took sole possession of second place on the Rangers all-time hit list.
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