Devil Rays @ Rangers (August 10th-12th)

[Molina00]

Game 1 Recap
Brandon McCarthy took the mound for Texas in the series opener against TB starter Andy Sonnanstine. Both pitchers were roughed up, but McCarthy pitched the better game allowing 3 runs (all unearned) on 6 hits and 3 walks over 4.2 innings. The Rangers beat up Sonnanstine for 5 runs on 7 hits over 4.1 innings dropping him to 1-8 on the season.

The Rangers broke through first scoring 2 runs in the 3rd and held the lead until the D-Rays finally scored against McCarthy in the 5th, putting 3 runs on the board. Trailing 3-2 heading into the bottom of the inning, Frank Catalanotto hit a 3-run homerun off Sonnanstine to give the Rangers the lead for good at 5-3. The Rays tried to rally in the 6th scoring a run off Mike Wood to cut the Ranger lead to 1, but that was all they would get. Texas put 2 more runs across in the bottom of the inning and C.J. Wilson pitched 1.1 perfect innings to nail down his 4th save of the year.

[Molina00]

Game 2 Recap
Not much to talk about in this game, except the dominance of the 2-11 Edwin Jackson over the Ranger hitters. Needless to say, that is not a good topic to me.

Anyway, John Rheinecker got the start for Texas and he actually pitched a decent game allowing just 3 runs over 6 innings of work while striking out 6 batters. On many nights that would be a good enough performance to get a pitcher a win, not last night though. Edwin Jackson was dominating allowing only 5 Ranger baserunners (4 hits + 1 walk) and striking out 8 batters in his first complete game shutout of his career.

The Rangers 4 hits were accounted for by singles from Michael Young and Gerald Laird, and doubles by Brad Wilkerson and David Murphy who made his first start in a Ranger uniform.

Carl Crawford and Delmon Young supplied the offense on the Tampa Bay side. Both went 2 for 4 with a run scored. One of Crawford's hits was a triple and both of Young's were doubles.

[Molina00]

Game 3 Recap
Unlike in Saturday's game where Texas was shutout by Edwin Jackson, the Rangers had no problem scoring runs in the series finale on Sunday. Every starter for Texas had at least 1 hit in the Rangers 9-1 romp over the D-Rays.

Ranger starter Kason Gabbard lasted just 1.1 innings before leaving the game with forearm stiffness. He made it 1.1 scoreless innings though. Willie Eyre took over in relief and pitched 3.2 scoreless innings to pick up the win and improve to 4-5 on the season.

The Rangers 14-hit attack included a 3 for 4 with 3 doubles performance from David Murphy, multi-hit games by Marlon Byrd, Brad Wilkerson, and Jason Botts, and also Michael Young's 6th homerun of the season. Ian Kinsler also swiped his 14th base of the year and drove in 2 runs.

The Devil Rays did manage to get 8 hits off the Ranger pitching, but 6 of them were singles. Wes Littleton was dominating in his 1.2 innings of relief striking out 4 batters.