Saturday’s second game of the season followed a script much like Friday. Ian Kinsler was even nice enough to provide an encore of his leadoff home run heroics. With that, he wrote himself into the history books by becoming the first player in Major League history to homer to begin each of a team’s first two games of the season, according to Stats, Inc.
Kinsler’s ball opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning against John Lackey. But in the top of the second, former Ranger minor leaguer Adrian Gonzalez singled, his first of three hits, two batters before David Ortiz hit one out of the ballpark to quickly reverse the scoreboard into the Red Sox’s favor. Commenced by Kinsler’s double with one out in the third, Elvis Andrus and Josh Hamilton would both record RBI extra base hits (triple and double in that order) to knot the game at 3 apiece.
That’s where the similarities end and the Rangers offense officially asserts itself. What better way to do that than with an Adrian Beltre grand slam following a walk of the reigning American League MVP. The grand slam to deep center served as the highlight of a six-run extravaganza which featured five hits and two walks. At the end of the party, the Rangers’ lead had ballooned to 9-3.Yorvit Torreabla and Nelson Cruz took it upon themselves to cushion the lead in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively. On top of he home runs, Elvis Andrus and Julio Borbon each played very well offensively, Andrus knocked a triple in the third, a double in the fourth and a single in the fifth with two RBI’s and two runs scored. Borbon had a triple in the fourth and an infield single, finishing with one RBI and a run scored.
Colby Lewis started for the Rangers after going 3-0 for the Rangers in October and collecting a World Series victory, For him, run support is a new concept after last season. Pedro Strop, Mason Tobin (Rule 5 pick) and Darren O’Day each pitched one inning.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment