Rangers Lose in 11 Versus Halos
Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: The first inning gave us yet another example of extra outs leading to runs. A 3rd strike against Trout got away from Pierzynski and Moreland mishandled the throw so Trout was safe at first with 1 out. And of course the Halos scored both their runs (Trout and Pujols) with 2 outs.
Baker went out with an injury in the top of the 1st when he slid into the wall in foul territory in left field making a catch for an out.
In the top of 10 with 1 out Robbie Ross (who up to that point had pitched well in relief) gave up back to back singles. Trout, a righty, was due up. And Wash left Ross, a lefty, in to face Trout. And Trout walked to load the bases. Then, Wash brings in another lefty, Joe Ortiz, to face right handed batting Pujols. Why oh why not go with a righty-righty match up?
In that at bat against Ortiz Pujols hit a grounder to Beltre. It looked like Beltre could have stepped on 3B and then thrown to 1B for an inning ending double play. Instead he went to home for 1 out. And it looked like Pierzynski wasn't expecting him to go to home plate since he wasn't even standing on home and had to tag the runner out. All that said, Everyday Joe Ortiz got the next batter, Hamilton, out to get out of a 1 out bases loaded jam.
But Ortiz gave up the game winning walk off homer to Kendrick (another right handed batter) in the bottom of 11. Again, what happened to righty vs. righty and lefty vs. lefty match ups?
Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Ogando battled in 7 IP with 2 ER's (the other 2 in the first inning were unearned, again that error really hurt).
Nellie hit a towering 3 run shot in the top of 6 cutting the Halos' lead to 4-3. In the top of 8 the Angels had and error and the Rangers tied it up 4-4 with 2 outs.
Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Sometimes (all the time?) there really seems to be no rhyme or reason to why Wash makes pitching moves.