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Rangers can't capitalize on Young heroics, miss chance to get to .500
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Matt Harrison puts the Rangers in an early hole again. Photo AP/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn
On Tuesday night in Toronto, C.J. Wilson's inability to get the job done forced the Rangers to push Frank Francisco into a 5-out, 27 pitch save. On Wedensday night, it cost them the game.
Despite a clutch 2-out solo home run by Michael Young in the top of the 9th to cap a comeback from a four run deficit, the Rangers lost an opportunity to get back to .500 for the first time in over a week , when Kevin Millar singled home the game winner in the bottom of the 11th.
Anotherpoor performance from starter Matt Harrison put Texas in a hole early and forced the Rangers to go deep into a bullpen that manager Ron Washington described as running "on fumes." Scott Feldman, scheduled to start Saturday's game in Baltimore for the disabled Kris Benson, was forced to throw 36 pitches over 1 2/3 innings. If Feldman still starts Saturday, it will now be on two days' rest.
With Francisco and Jason Jennings unavailable, rookie Derek Holland gave the bullpen a huge lift in his major league debut. Brought in with the bases loaded in the 6th--welcome to the big leagues, kid--Holland gave up a bad-luck infield single to hot hitting Adam Lind. He then retired Scott Rolen on a pop up to limit the damage, before throwing a scoreless 7th and 8th. Staying mainly with a live fastball that moved left to right, Holland threw 29 of 42 pitches for strikes in an extremely encouraging performance.
Up 7-4 heading to the ninth, the Jays trotted out the struggling B. J. Ryan. Ryan has been dreadful thus far in 2009, leading to speculation that he may lose his closing job in Toronto, at least until they can figure out why his velocity and command are both off. After two runs scored courtesy of a hit batter, a walk, an error and an RBI grounder, Young homered to deep center off Ryan to tie the game, his second clutch 9th inning homer in three days.
Two innings later, the Rangers trumped the Jays in the game of "who has the worst lefty reliever that goes by initials," as Wilson walked Vernon Wells to lead off the bottom of the 11th, after getting ahead of him 0-2. A sacrifice and an intentional pass to Rolen set up Millar's game winner off of new addition Darren O'Day.
The Rangers go for the series win tonight, sending Kevin Millwood against Toronto's Scott Richmond. Millwood has pitched deep into all three starts this year, including a complete game in his last outing. The exhausted Texas bullpen needs him to do it again.
Signed off the couch--literally: O'Day had to fly to Toronto after getting the call Wednesday morning that he had been claimed by the Rangers. He passed through Memphis, and international customs, before arriving at the Rogers Centre just in time to be handed the ball with the game on the line. Let go by the Mets on Saturday, O'Day is actually more promising then your average waiver claim. The Mets selected him a Rule 5 pick from the Angels this winter. He was a closer in the Angels system at three levels in 2007 and 2008, then worked the last half of '08 from the Angels pen. He had pitched three scoreless innings so far this year. But they ran into a roster crunch with Nelson Figueroa had to be added to the roster for a start. The Rule 5 restrictions still apply to him, so the Rangers must keep him on the roster for the remainder of the season or offer him back to the Angels.
Scrapes and bruises: Josh Hamilton sat out the game with sore ribs, suffered while running into the outfield wall on Tuesday. He pinch hit in the 9th and is expected to play tonight. Andruw Jones replaced Hamilton in the field, with Marlon Byd shifting to center, then had to leave the game himself after brusing his knee on a spectacular leap over Millar at first base. Jones is day to day.
Hal Finney watch: David Murphy replaced Jones, striking out to end the 9th, after Young's homer. Murphy is now 0-for-19 on the season, and it's time for the descendants of Hal Finney to officially start taking note. Finney holds the major league record for most at-bats (among position players) without a hit to start the season, having gone 0-for-35 for the 1936 Phillies. It gets worse for Finney; that's not just how he started the year, that's how he ended it as well, zero hits for the entire season. He also didn't walk once, for the worst single batting performance by a non-pitcher in major league history. Can Murphy get there? Very doubtful. But we're watching.
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