Deep in the Heart of Texas!

Tonight we were scheduled to watch a game in Texas’s finest ballpark, in my personal opinion. The Texas Rangers (29-30) were hosting the Baltimore Orioles (30-27) for the second night of their series. The Rangers record for winning home games was slim this far in the season, losing 11 out of 15 home games. Before their series began with the Orioles they were coming off of a 7-4 road trip.

While looking up the lineups before the game it was a little disappointing to not see Adrian Beltre, four time Gold Glove winner, and his partner in crime Elvis Andrus in the starting lineup for the field. Beltre was the DH for the entire game and Andrus did come in part way through the game. Rangers were starting their rookie pitcher, Nick Martinez, who coming into this game was 1-1 with an ERA of 2.75. 

The Orioles starting pitcher was Bud Norris. Previous to this game he had only allowed one home run over the three starts he had, after today he will have tied the season high for runs allowed, five. Norris would retire from this game in the fifth inning after being hit by a line drive hitting his forearm hit by Mitch Moreland.

The Orioles took the lead in the top of the first after Nelson Cruz, former Ranger, reached second base on an error and after Adam Jones hits a single to send him around to score. Going into the bottom of the first the Rangers lead off hitter, Shin-Soo Choo, was hit by a pitch to reach first base. Sardinas grounded into a double pay to remove both of them from the field. Mitch Moreland walked only to be brought around the bases by Beltre’s first home run over the right field fence.

The top of the third did not go too well for the Rangers. Nick Markakis homered, followed by Manny Machado hitting a double and Cruz reaching first on yet another error. Adam Jones hit a single to earn an RBI as Machado crossed home plate. With Cruz on second and Chris on first on a walk, James Hardy hit a sacrifice fly to bring Cruz to score.

The top of the fourth had a great play that unfolded right in front of us when Caleb Joseph hit a ball out to Left field to Choo and took to second only to be thrown out by Choo in Left.
The top of the fifth had another home run for the Orioles, Chris Davis. Moreland led off the bottom of the 5^th and delivered a line drive that connected with Norris’s forearm. Norris did not go out of the game right away, after the trainers came out to check on him and he threw a few warm up pitches to see how he felt. Norris stayed in to pitch to Beltre. He probably should have taken himself out because on that pitch Beltre hit his second home run while Luis Sardinas and Mitch Moreland were on base to tie the game. Beltre is the first Ranger to hit two home runs in one game in this season. He currently has the second highest batting average on the team at .306, following Alex Rios, .316.

To start out the sixth Markakis singles to left field to hit Caleb Joseph in who was on base by bunting and earning his 21^st RBI of the season. The next few innings were pretty routine and quiet until the eighth. In the bottom of the eighth Alex Rios led off with a single against the Orioles sidearm pitcher, Darren O’Day. Donnie Murphy who attempted another Ranger bunt which the Orioles catcher Caleb Joseph got too quickly and fired to second to pick off Rios. In the bottom of the ninth, the Rangers last attempt to score. Andrus was successful in his bunting attempt and reached first. He was doubled off when Choo went lefty-vs-lefty to closer Zach Britton on a grounder to shortstop. Sardinas singled and manager Ron Washington sent in Michael Choice to bat for Mitch Moreland. Sadly he struck out to end the game. The Rangers are one game under .500 and eight games behind the Oakland A’s in the AL West.

It happens in the game of baseball,you win some and you lose some. It’s still early in the season and hopefully the Ranger will still be playing in October!