The team celebrates Choo’s walk to end the game.

Another day and another walk-off win for the Rangers. This one probably more incredible than the night before. Instead of a 2-run comeback this was a comeback from 3 runs down in the late innings. This game also showed the impact Ron Washington has as manager of this team. He may lack in some areas like game strategy, but his teams always play hard and never quit. Last season the Rangers led the league with 50 come from behind wins. This year they are already to 2 come-backs in 3 games. He always gives them that belief that as long as they have outs they have a chance. Lets get to the actual game now.

Robbie Ross Jr. got the start for the Rangers and Kyle Kendrick got the start for the Phillies. Ross was making his first MLB start, but unlike Scheppers on Opening Day he didn’t really show the same nerves. He did struggle being able to keep the ball down and that led to his pitch count running high, but he was able to pitch out of a couple of jams and keep the team in the game. He gave up 3 runs in 5 innings with 7 k’s, and 2 bb’s. Only 2 of those runs were earned as Leonys Martin overran a ball in the first allowing Carlos Ruiz to score from 2nd base. He did give up a long home run to Ryan Howard in the 3rd when he left his slider up. He rebounded after that and was able to get through 5 innings.

After 5 innings it was 3-0 and Kyle Kendrick was dealing. He only really ran into trouble once and that was the first inning when Choo led off with a single. Andrus followed that with a single that advanced Choo to 3rd and Andrus to 2nd on the throw to 3rd base. That brought the middle of the order to the plate with no outs, and unfortunately it led to no runs. Fielder struck out swinging and then Choo got caught in a rundown off a Adrian Beltre grounder to the pitcher and was tagged out. Rios ended the inning by flying out to deep center field. That was the Rangers biggest threat until the 7th inning.

In the 7th inning it was clear that Kendrick was starting to tire, but Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg kept him in the game. It started with Mitch Moreland. Until that point he had really been struggling. He is what I was starting to consider a rally killer, especially after grounding into a double play in the 5th to end a potential rally. In the 7th he got it started with a triple down the right field line that got into the corner. After that the Rangers team and crowd finally had some life to it. Leonys Martin was able to bring him home on a rbi single through the right side of the infield. That made it 3-1 and really made it possible for them to believe that they had a shot. They didn’t score anything in the 8th and then in the 9th it was a whole team effort to get those three runs.

The hero from last night Adrian Beltre got it started with a line drive single to left field. Then Mitch Moreland was able to keep it going with a double that moved Beltre to 3rd. The most important at-bat had to be Jim Adduci. He pinch-hit for JP Arencibia. He came up with runners in scoring position and was able to beat out an infield single that scored Beltre and made it a one-run game. It was important in that if he is thrown out then even though they get the run it puts less pressure on the Phillies because there would be 2 outs in the inning. He beat it out and now there was runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Papelbon started feeling the pressure and the crowd started getting loud. The Phillies brought the infield in to cut-off a run at the plate. Leonys Martin did what you are supposed to do though and on the first pitch he single sharply up the middle to score Moreland and make it a tie game. Adduci advanced to third on the play. There was runners on the corner again this time for Donnie Murphy. Papelbon couldn’t control his fastball and walked Murphy on 4 pitches to load the bases for Shin Shoo Choo. There was still only one out and the bases were loaded. So many potential ways to score a run and yet it was a walk that won it. Papelbon had the count at 1-2, but threw three straight balls to walk Choo and end the ball game. That goes to show that unlike any other sport, you can’t run out the clock in baseball. To win requires getting all 27 outs. The Rangers took advantage of that tonight and won in incredible fashion tonight.

Notes from the Game

• The Rangers won on walk-off walk for the first time since 1999 when Todd Zeile walked in against Arizona to win.
• Shin Shoo Choo did win the game and certainly redeemed himself for his first inning blunder. The Rangers clearly called a contact play. That means that Choo runs on contact trying to get home. He got halfway down the line and hesitated. If he had just kept running he would have scored easily. The ball had rolled away from the pitcher and no way was he going to be able to get it home in time. Choo didn’t go back to third either and so he was tagged out pretty easily. He has to make a decision there about what to do, but he didn’t and he was out because of it.
• Carlos Ruiz had a pretty good night tonight. He was batting second tonight and filling in for Jimmy Rollins, who missed the game to be with his wife who was in labor. Ruiz went 2-4 and reached base three times against Robbie Ross. He also scored 2 of the Phillies 3 runs.
• Robbie Ross Jr. pitched well tonight. He wasn’t great by any means, but he wasn’t terrible either. He was able to show decent command and made good pitches when it counted. He also struck out 7 hitters and only walked 2. I thought he showed great poise out there. He was certainly in control of his emotions and was able to get through 5 innings. Most important of all is that he kept the team in the game. He will definitely be getting another start next week against the Boston Red Sox in Fenway. That will be a definite test and we will see how he does.
• The bullpen tonight was outstanding. It was made of the same people who had struggled mightily on Monday afternoon. This time though they gave up no runs to the Phillies in 4 innings of work. It started with Shawn Tolleson only giving up one hit in his 1.1 innings of work. Figueroa was able to get the last two outs of the 7th with only one walk. Then it was Seth Rosin who came in and pitched two remarkable innings only giving up 1 hit in his those two innings. Rosin has certainly been a find early on in the season. He is a Rule V draft guy that they must keep on the roster, and if he keeps pitching like this he will certainly have a role on this team. He was pitching with the confidence of a guy who looked like he had been there for years instead of the rookie who has never pitched above AA ball. Great job by the bullpen tonight.
• I actually wrote this in my notes tonight, “Moreland is really struggling here at the beginning of the season, how much longer till Michael Choice starts to get some of his at-bats”. Then Moreland finished the game with a triple and a double and 2 runs scored. I guess that will shut me up for now. I do imagine though that Choice will get one of the starts this weekend.
• It was announced today that Yu Darvish will be back on the mound Sunday afternoon against the Rays. I expect it to be announced in the next few days when Colby will be back, so everyone in the rotation is pitching to be able to stay in the rotation. Some difficult decisions coming for the front office and coaching staff.
• Finally, the Rangers are 2-1 after their first series. They do need to play better in certain areas. They need to work on getting off to better starts. They need to work on base running and some defensive issues. There are still 158 games left to do that. They won this series and are doing a good job surviving this tough stretch to start the year. They have a tough road trip coming up against the Rays and Red Sox, so  it was good that they were able to get 2 wins out of this series.

The Rangers are off today and will resume playing on Friday night at 6:05 against the Tampa Bay Rays when Joe Saunders will take the mound for the Rangers against Jake Odorizzi.