Rangers Win to Complete Sweep 7-3

As Randy Galloway pointed out this afternoon, it won’t always be the case- but the baseball gods are shining down on Arlington right now. The Texas Rangers defeated the Seattle Mariners this afternoon, completing the sweep of the three-game series and the second sweep of the season. The Rangers are now undefeated at 6 wins.

C.J. Wilson took to the mound for Texas and picked up his first win of the season. He pitched well in the opener but didn’t get the official win. After today’s game and Wilson’s win the Texas Starters now have 5 straight wins all of them being in quality starts. Wilson pitched seven innings allowing five hits. Three runs were scored on Wilson but only two of them were earned. His pitch total today was 108 and 70 were for strikes.

Seattle’s ace Felix Hernandez almost mirrored CJ’s game. He pitched seven and had two earned runs but four were scored against him. An error filled second inning allowed Texas to score three runs. Mitch Moreland hit a clutch double to score the go-ahead run on Felix in the bottom of the seventh inning. Chris Ray replaced the ace in the eighth inning and allowed the runs that put the game out of reach.

Rangers Offense:

Mitch Moreland was the game winner with his RBI double but the game also featured RBIs from Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus (his 5th RBI of the season), and Nelson Cruz had two in the game. On the base paths David Murphy picked up a stolen base that resulted in the go-ahead run.

The Bullpen:

A flawless night for the bullpen, Arthur Rhodes and Darren O’Day pitched the 8th and 9th innings respectively allowing no hits and no runs. The bullpen was a huge question mark going into the season and is now starting to be a strength of this team.

Other Thoughts:

This streak to start the season is nothing short of impressive, whats more impressive is that they are winning in all aspects of the game. Starting pitching has been outstanding, the bullpen has backed them up, and the bats are swinging well and scoring runs. On top of that defensively the players have responded well to the many changes made. We’ve seen three different players at first base, outfielders swapped regularly, and Michael Young filling in for multiple roles. This hasn’t shaken up any of the players’ confidence, and they are obviously responding well.

Attendance at today’s game was really impressive for a mid-week day game, officially it was tallied as 25,049. The area has responded to the quality product being put on the field, and fans have noticed.

Next Up:

A talented Baltimore Orioles team led by former Rangers’ skipper Buck Showalter will host our boys this weekend. This is a talented bunch in Baltimore and should be a competitive series.

-Jonathan