Rangers Wait Out Two Rain Delays, Take Game One

Texas Rangers fans have been waiting nearly three days for the next game.  And tonight, they had to do a little more waiting.  Mother Nature pushed rain into the area, forcing two rain delays before the teams could finish the 5th inning.

What happened before and between rain delays was quite a rollercoaster.  C.J. Wilson looked bad early, but so did Justin Verlander.  Both pitchers were getting squeezed by the home plate umpire and ended up making a few mistakes.  Fortunately, the Rangers were able to capitalize on Verlander's mistakes a little better than the Tigers could get to Wilson.  The Rangers got three runs on six hits (including a Nelson Cruz home run) before Verlander's night was shortened by rain. 

Wilson actually settled down a bit with a three-run cushion.  Until the first rain delay hit.  When he came back out, he couldn't locate anything.  He ended up allowing two runs and loading the bases before the second rain delay was effected.  Mike Gonzalez was the first arm out of the pen and second rain delay, and on just two pitches, he ended the Tigers' threat. Whew.  Overall, though, it was not a good night for the Rangers' ace -- 4.2 innings, 2 runs, 6 hits, 5 walks, 6 strikeouts.  It might be fair to blame the rain, but C.J. could have been a little sharper too.

Alexi Ogando, on the other hand, could not have been better. Two scoreless innings with three strikeouts.  I really wish Ron Washington woudl have let him finish the game because I think he could have.  Darren Oliver, Mike Adams and Neftali Feliz were great too.  The bullpen really took care of business tonight. 

Sorry I don't have much to say about the Rangers offense. Outside of those early three runs, there isn't much to talk about.  I had a feeling this game might be a pitchers' duel, but I didn't think it'd be a battle of the bullpens.

 

KISS:  The bullpen.  Mike Gonzalez, Alexi Ogando, Darren Oliver, Mike Adams and Neftali Feliz did some fine work tonight.  Plenty of oohs and ahhhs over their pitching tonight --- especially Feliz hitting 101 mph on the gun in the 9th.

MISS: Josh Hamilton was 0 for 4.  I hope his bat shows up soon.

 

FINAL SCORE

Tigers :: 2 R, 7 H, 1 E, 8 TLOB

Rangers :: 3 R, 6 H, 5 TLOB

 

Sunday's match-up

@ 6:45 p.m. CST

Derek Holland (16-5, 3.95 ERA) vs. Max Scherzer  (15-9, 4.43 ERA)