Rangers Lose Combined No-Hitter In Ninth, Win 4-0

Rich Harden (above) pitched 6 2-3 innings of no-hit baseball, but Joe Mauer's single up the middle in the ninth inning off Neftali Feliz turned the Rangers no-hitter into a one-hit shutout. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

First things first: this was a huge win for the Texas Rangers (70-54). After a week on the road where almost nothing went right it's good to see the Rangers put together a complete game. Of course, the fact that only the second combined no-no in the last eight years was foiled with an out in the ninth is a bummer, but I'm sure a nine game lead over the L.A. Angels matters more to this team.

"That's baseball," Rangers' starter Rich Harden said. "We had [Neftali] Feliz, who's one of the best closers in the game facing [Twins' catcher Joe] Mauer, who's one of the best hitters in the game. That's the way it goes."

Mauer dribbled an 0-2 pitch past a diving Elvis Andrus into center field off Feliz for the Twins first hit of the game. It's still an impressive feat to hold the Twins to only one hit. They are the best hitting team in the Majors with a .280 batting average and you knew Mauer, who's batting .330 this season and won the A.L. batting title in three of the last four seasons, wasn't going to have an 0 for 4 night. It's the second time Mauer has broken up a no-hit bid in the ninth, the Twins catcher had a double with one out in the ninth against Gavin Floyd in 2008.

"We had some opportunities where Harden walked a couple guys and we just couldn't get that hit to get a couple runs on the board," Mauer said. "But you definitely don't want to get no-hit. It's nice to get a hit up there but we want runs."

In his first start since Aug. 7, Harden (W, 5-4) mostly pitched well on the night, but was sporadic - especially after the third inning. The Rangers righthander was perfect through three, but walked five batters over his final 3 2-3 innings. Harden was able to pitch out of jams consistently in the game, coaxing Twins' hitters into two double plays to get out of trouble in both the fifth and sixth innings after walking batters. It took 12 pitches for Harden to get the first two batters out in the sixth and he was relieved with the Rangers holding a 3-0 lead.

In my mind, there's no controversy about the decision to pull Harden after 6 2-3 innings. Harden was already at 111 pitches in his first pro start back from the disabled list and it wasn't like he was going all the way anyway. Combine that with the simple fact that Harden had just walked Twins' first baseman Michael Cuddyer on four pitches and you can see why Rangers' manager Ron Washington decided to pull the plug.

"I wasn't going to sit around and let him throw 120 pitches out there," Washington said. "The seventh inning was going to be his last one anyway."

Harden's final line: 6 2-3 innings, no hits, no runs, five walks and six strikeouts. It's certainly a good start, but the guy's got to get a hold of his control issues to have any shot of staying in the regular rotation.

Offensively, the Rangers used both speed and power to put runs on the board early. Two infield singles with two outs in the first led to two quick runs for Texas. Josh Hamilton beat out a grounder to Twins second-baseman Orlando Hudson (who was playing extra-deep, literally in the outfield between first and second base), diving head-first into first-base for the first hit of the game for the Rangers. Vladimir Guerrero followed with a single deep into short that he beat out and the Rangers were in business with two on and two outs in the bottom of the first.

David Murphy followed and crushed a 3-1 pitch to deep center-field that was literally just inches away from being a home run. As it was, the ball bounced off the top of the wall and Murphy sped into third base, scoring the first two runs of the game. Michael Young grounded into a fielder's choice in the fifth (which easily would have been an inning-ending double play if not for the hard, take-down slide into second by Andrus) that scored a run and Hamilton scored Andrus on a sac fly in the eighth for the final Rangers run of the game.

Both the deer-antlers and bear claw were in full effect Monday night.

This is just the type of game the Rangers needed to get themselves back on track and back to a winning mentality. The Twins swept the Rangers earlier this season in Minnesota, so maybe a win against a fellow division leader (especially in this fashion) is just the spark this team needs.

Colby Lewis (9-10, 3.37 ERA) gets the start Tuesday night against the Twins who will start Carl Pavano (15-8, 3.52). Pavano was roughed up in his last start, giving up seven runs on 15 hits in six innings pitched in an 11-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox. Lewis has pitched well in each of his last six starts, giving up no-more than four runs, but has five losses and a no-decision to show for it.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

News and Notes:

• If Mauer didn't get that hit in the ninth, the Rangers would have accomplished the six no-hitter this season but only the first combo no-no since 2003.
• The last time the Rangers had allowed no hits with one out in the ninth was July 28, 1994 - Kenny Rogers perfect game.

(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)