Alexi Ogando tramples on Cleveland Indians with six scoreless innings, avoids humiliating early exit
Alexi Ogando pitched a scoreless six innings as the Texas Rangers comprehensively beat the Cleveland Indians 7-4 on Thursday, September 15 at Rangers Ballpark.
The situation for Ogando was however never as pretty as the playing cards displayed at the end of the game. The star came within one hitter’s distance of exiting the game early. Manager Ron Washington had a lot of sweat on his brow when he saw his premier
hurler pitch himself into a second inning bases loaded situation.
Ogando’s stint on the mount in the second inning had produced 39 pitches and there was serious concern at the time. The star began the inning by walking Carlos Santana to first base. Travis Hafner followed on to base with a single. However, he was forced
out on second base when Grady Sizemore ran for second base. Santana had moved to third base.
The situation got worse later when Shelley Duncan was given a walk to first base. The bases were now loaded and Ogando was in trouble. The player did his utmost as he struck-out Lonnie Chisenhall and Lou Marson to save the innings from a potential four run
knock.
Manager Ron Washington stated that Ogando’s "competitive juices" kicked in once the hurler had come within a hitter’s distance of exiting the bout.
"Sometimes during the game you have times like that during an inning. I was going too much to my left side on my fastball," Ogando said through a Spanish interpreter. "That's why I couldn't control those pitches. You can't do anything else. You have to think
about what you were doing wrong. When they came and talked to me, that's what happened. I was able to fix it and worked my way to do it."
Nevertheless, Ogando moved onto his 13th win of the season without giving up a run. He conceded two hits and struck-out four hitters in the process. His earned runs average is now 3.58.
Ogando’s performance was brilliant, as he managed to prevent the Indians from scoring on a bases loaded situation.
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