Rangers closer Frank Francisco (right) celebrates with catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia (left) after Francisco closed out ninth inning. The Rangers increased their record to 13-12 on the season and are now just 1.5 games behind Seattle for the division lead.
This game was a pitcher's duel for the first 4 innings as Kevin Millwood retired the first 12 batters he faced and Felix Hernandez allowed no runs through 3 innings. Hernandez came into the game at 4-0 with a 2.28 ERA and a 2-game, 15 inning consecutive streak without allowing a run, in which he also had 16 strikeouts. Millwood came into the game at 2-2 with a 2.13 ERA. The game was scoreless through 3.
Things changed in the top of the 4th as the Rangers offense broke out. Rangers 3rd baseman Michael Young led off the inning with a single. DH Hank Blalock knocked a double off the wall in left center field and Young scored making it 1-0 Rangers. Center fielder Marlon Byrd came up to bat next and hit a single to center field which scored Blalock from 2nd and increased Texas' lead to 2-0. Right fielder Nelson Cruz followed up with another single to put runners on 1st and 2nd with 0 outs. Seattle pitcher Feliz Hernandez regained his composure and immediately got left fielder David Murphy to fly out to left field, and then got consecutive strikeouts on 1b Chris Davis and Jarrod Saltalamacchia to end the inning.
The Rangers got it going again in the top of the fifth after Millwood pitched a perfect bottom of the 4th. 2b Ian Kinsler began the inning with a strikeout, but then shortstop Elvis Andruws crushed the ball to left. Michael Young (aka Mr. Clutch) came up to bat and nailed a hanging slider over the right field wall (about 8 rows deep) to give the Rangers a 4-0 lead. Hernandez ended the inning with back-to-back strikeouts of Hank Blalock and Nelson Cruz.
Kevin Millwood began the bottom of the 5th with a 4-0 lead and had gotten 12 consecutive Mariner batters out, he would not be able to say the same when the inning was completed. Millwood's fastball through the first 4 innings was consistently between 92-94 mph. His fastball to begin the 5th was between 88-90 mph; which allowed Seattle to get back into the game. Millwood's pitch count was only at 39 to begin the 5th, so fatigue was not the issue. Seattle first baseman Russell Branyon led off the inning and Millwood did what he hadn't been doing all night: get behind in the count, Millwood had been consistently throwing first pitch strikes all night. After seeing the first 2 balls, fouling the next off, and then taking another ball; Branyon took a 3-1 pitch deep to right field for a homer, putting Seattle on the board with the Rangers still ahead 4-1. Millwood got Seattle 3b Adrian Beltre to fly out to left and then allowed a double to 2b Jose Lopez and a double to catcher Kenji Johjima to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. The very next batter, OF Franklin Gutierrez, smoked the first pitch he saw to deep left for a 3-run home run; tying the score at 4-4. Millwood threw another first pitch ball to shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, but luckily got him to fly out on the next pitch. He threw 2 straights balls to Ichiro before Suzuki tripled down the 3rd base line. Millwood then got ahead of OF Endy Chavez 0-2 and then got a groundout to 2nd to end the inning.
Good news for the Rangers though, their offense is pretty damn good. After a Nelson Cruz groundout to begin the 6th, David Murphy singled to right field. Chris Davis came up to bat next and hit a home run into right field that put the Rangers up for good at 6-5. Hernandez then got Jarrod Saltalamacchia to strike out for the 3rd consecutive time in the game and Ian Kinsler to fly out to center. This was the end of Felix Hernandez' night as he went 6 innings and allowed 10 hits, 6 runs, and got 9 strikeouts for the game.
Kevin Millwood allowed a leadoff double to Mike Sweeney in the bottom of the sixth but then retired the next 3 batters, getting out of the inning.
Sean White relived Feliz Hernandez for the top of the 7th and got the first 2 batters he faced on ground outs before walking Hank Blalock and getting Marlon Byrd to strike out swinging to end the inning.
Millwood began the bottom of the 7th inning getting a ground out to the shortstop from Kenji Johjima but then allowing a single to Franklin Gutierrez . Yuniesky Betancourt followed with another single to put runners on the corners with 1 out. Ichiro Suzuki followed with a slow hit ground ball to Rangers 2b Ian Kinsler who quickly tossed the ball to shortstop Elvis Andruws at second base then Andruws quickly threw the ball to first but Ichiro hauled some serious ass down the first base line and was safe. Gutierrez scored on the play making it 6-5 Rangers. After Suzuki stole second, Endy Chavez grounded out to end the inning.
Nelson Cruz began the eighth for Texas with a ground out to first base. David Murphy followed with a walk but was caught trying to steal second after he stumbled coming out of his break from 1st. Chris Davis grounded out to end the inning.
Kevin Millwood stayed in for the eighth inning as he had only threw 78 pitches going into the inning. After a 9 pitch at-bat that culminated in a Mike Sweeney ground out to third, Millwood was done for the night. He pitched 7.1 innings allowing 5 runs on 8 hits. C.J. Wilson came into the game and got Russell Branyon, who had hit a home run in the 5th, to fly out to left. Then it was up to Frank Francisco to get the next 4 outs to win it for the Rangers.
Francisco came into the game tied for the longest consecutive scoreless streak to begin the season in Texas Rangers history with 11 straight games and 0.00 ERA. He also led the American League in saves at 7 coming into the game. After getting up on Adrian Beltre in the count at 0-2, Francsico got Beltre to pop out deep to center which ended the eigth inning.
Denny Stark relieved Sean White for the top of the ninth and got the Rangers 9th, 1st, and 2nd hitters in order.
Frank Francisco came back out for the bottom of the ninth to close it out for the Rangers. He got the first hitter he saw, Jose Lopez, on the second pitch of the inning to fly out to center. Then came the play of the night and a play in which Seattle Mariner fans will be complaining about for a while. Kenji Johjima came up to bat with 1 out in the bottom of the ninth. After 2 consecutive balls, Johjima crushed the ball to the outfield grass between shortstop and 3rd where Elvis Andruws completely laid out and dove for the ball trapping it in his glove. Andruws rose to one knee and threw the ball to first, the instant replay looked as though the play at first was extremely close. Further replays showed that while the play was close, Rangers first baseman Chris Davis might not have had his foot on the bag the whole time. It might not have been legit, but damn what an outstanding play by the rookie Andruws at second. This was huge for the Rangers as it gave them 2 outs for the inning and the next batter, Franklin Gutierrez, singled to right field. Then in an odd turn of events, Frank Francisco (who had only walked 1 batter in 11 outings) walked Yuniesky Betancourt (who hadn't walked the entire season in 93 at bats) to put runners at 1st and 2nd for lead off hitter Ichiro Suzuki. Luckily for the Rangers, Ichiro swung at the first pitch he saw and hit a soft liner to center field, ending the game.
Rangers win 6-5.
News and Notes:
- This was Francisco's AL leading 8th save of the season and he now has the Ranger record with 12 outings to open the season without allowing a run.
- Michael Young's home run in the 5th inning was his 7th of the season. Young had 12 all of last year and only 9 in 2007.
- Kevin Millwood allowed 5 runs on the night, but he is still 5th in the AL in ERA at 2.78.
- David Murphy was caught stealing in the 8th inning, it was only the 3rd time all season that the Rangers have been caught on a steal attempt.
- The Rangers hit 2 home runs for the game (Young, Davis) and are still leading the Majors with 44 home runs.
- Texas closes out their brief 2 game series with the Mariners tomorrow at 3:40 pm central.
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