Game 137: Rangers Work Overtime To Win Series With Royals

It didn’t start very well, with the Rangers falling behind 3-0 early, but the bats showed up led by Josh Hamilton‘s 39th homerun and Adrian Beltre following that up with a game-tying solo shot.

Ian Kinsler’s triple in the 10th inning set up Michael Young’s RBI single to give the Rangers the win. (Photo: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE)

The teams both got single runs in the seventh inning before Michael Young‘s single in the 10th scored Ian Kinsler and Joe Nathan came in for his 30th save.

I talked about Scott Feldman earlier this week, and he had another solid start. He went 6.1 innings with six hits allowed, three runs and six strikeouts. Pitching into the seventh inning is exactly what they need from him. He was solid and although Feldman had spectacular moments this season, it is not realistic to expect that all the time from him.

The bullpen had to come up big and it was solid. Michael Kirkman gave up the Royals fourth run in the seventh but Tanner Scheppers, Mike Adams and Nathan were solid as they have been lately.

I mentioned it before, the big hit today came from Young. Young has hits in his last five games and that includes his first 2-homerun month since April. A lot of words have been written about Ron Washington‘s choice to keep Young in the lineup and they all say that Washington is waiting for Young to turn it around and maybe, just maybe, he is. Just in time for the playoffs.

There have been signs previously this season that Young has been turning it around so we will see how things turn out this time. I really don’t understand why the Rangers haven’t tried to find someone to fill Young’s spot. He has been the designated hitter on a team fighting for their third consecutive pennant while putting up numbers that are nowhere close to league average. Washington is on the record that there is no one to replace Young, meaning he obviously doesn’t trust Mike Olt or Jurickson Profar just yet and doesn’t want Craig Gentry‘s glove in there every day while Hamilton or Nelson Cruz play DH.

It isn’t the way I would run this team, but it is Washington who is trying to lead this team to their third straight pennant. But, as luck would have it, the faith the team has had in Young this season may just be paying off at the best possible time. It did tonight in the 10th inning of a tied game.