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Back from the Desert
The Rangers return home to face San Diego this weekend, after taking two of three from Arizona, but winning just two games on their six-game road trip. Thursday night their offense looked akin to the offense Ranger fans have come to expect. They scored nine runs, five of which were driven in by three round trippers, and beat the Diamondbacks in 12 innings. It was the first time Texas has scored more than six runs in a game this month, and just the second time since May 15. One of the home runs was a two-run shot by Andruw Jones in the fifth inning, his fourth on the road trip, as he makes a serious bid for more playing time.
Texas took a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh, but the pen coughed it up – Frank Francisco’s first blown save since last August – to send the game into extra innings. The beleaguered Chris Davis, leading both Major Leagues in strikeouts and batting less than .200 when the game began, hit a two-run homer in the 12 th to give the Rangers the lead. It was Davis’s fourth hit of the game, the only game on the trip in which any Ranger player had more than two hits. David Murphy followed with a home run that looked like icing on the cake at the time, but proved to be the margin of victory as Jason Jennings allowed two Diamondback runs before notching the save.
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The game was also notable for a first inning single that did not lead to a run. Omar Vizquel singled, his 2,678 th Major League hit, which is the most by any player from Venezuela. The single broke a tie for lead with Luis Aparicio.
A loss Thursday would have dropped the Rangers out of first place for the first time in 52 days, as they began the day tied for the lead in the West with the idle Angels. It’s amazing that the Rangers are still in first place with their June offensive swoon, that has led to 9-12 record for the month. Their biggest lead of the year so far has been 5.5 games, but Los Angeles has cut that down to one-half game and Seattle has quietly crept back into the race, trailing Texas by just 2.5 games.
In retrospect, there is perhaps no more important win for the Lawmen than Wednesday’s 2-1 thriller over the snakes. Vicente Padilla, who was put on waivers three weeks ago, took the mound to halt a five-game losing streak, the longest of the season for Texas. Padilla zipped through the first two innings in 18 pitches, while the Ranger batsmen staked him to a 2-0 lead with single runs in the second and third. Padilla labored thereafter, using 59 pitches to get through the next three innings. He allowed a run in the fifth, and pitched out of a jam in the sixth, overcoming a one-out triple. In the end though, he completed seven, with Frank Francisco and C. J. Wilson tossing scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth respectively to notch the win.
Padilla has a 2.16 ERA in the four starts since he was put on waivers. Three of those four starts were wins and “quality starts”, and he took a no-decision in the other. In short, since the Rangers sent the message by making public that they had placed him on waivers, he has responded by pitching like a top of the rotation starter.
Texas also received very good news about the injured Josh Hamilton, who had abdominal surgery earlier this month. Hamilton, who was with the Rangers on the just completed road trip, was expected to return around the All-Star break, but has made significant progress with baseball activities recently. He of course is eager to return, and is now targeting July 3 to be activated from the disabled list.
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The Rangers have 16 games remaining until the All-Star break, and 10 of those are against the Angels and Mariners. It’s a stretch that could solidify them in the A. L. West race if they do well; and it’s a stretch that could send them reeling down to third place if they don’t. Ranger fans can only hope that Thursday’s nine-run offensive outburst is the end of the June offensive swoon.
By: Richard W. Humphrey
MLBcenter.com Texas Rangers Correspondent
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