Baseball Update: Liriano outpitches Lee, Twins beat Rangers 6-4
Cliff Lee has been in a bitter situation for a while. When Texas Rangers manager, Ron Washington brought on the ace man to the mound for the match up against the Minnesota Twins, the intention was clear; get the ball thrower in good shape. The fixture between the two Divisions’ leaders was the last of the series. The game was played in the Rangers Ballpark, Arlington, in front of 24,738 fans.
The Twins who lie on top of the Central Division table of the American League were going into the match with a three game, losing streak against the hosts in the series. The final match up was an important game to rebound on. Fortunately, for the team, Cliff Lee was the pitcher on the mound for their opponents. Being pummelled in their earlier contests, the Minnesota got a stunning opportunity to deal with the lacklustre Texas defence.
Francisco Liriano was the player to be introduced for the encounter and he came in with a decent record following him. Being 11 wins up with a decent 7 losses, the ball thrower carried a 3.45 Earning Run Average (ERA). The left hand thrower had a 5 game winning streak and much to the satisfaction of the management, the A class pitcher performed to his mettle, creating the best forum for the hitters to take the lesson from and produce against the Rangers. At the end of the day, the experienced pitcher struck out 6 hitters and conceded 5 hits, 2 runs and 1 walk in his 7 innings of play.
The Rangers on the other hand, were riding high on cloud 9. Three wins up in the series and a hot 3 victories worth a streak, the ball club looked to end the Twins’ misery in fashion by setting up the night with Cliff Lee. The team has been on top of the table by a significant margin. Manager, Washington was looking to turn the s***w up for a bigger difference lead. The results were important as an insurance cover for the coming series against West Division title runner ups, the Oakland Athletics. A difference of 8 wins keeps the second tier team away from the Texas ball club.
Unfortunately, the night never went well for the Rangers, as Lee pitched provided a very weak exhibition of ball throwing. The All Star pitcher came in with a disappointing losing streak of 2 games. The day didn’t give the player anything to be happy about, as he was hit 7 times, allowing 5 runs and 1 walk in his 5 innings of play. The result was a disappointing one for the pitcher, as his last 4 starts depict an ERA of 8.39 and he’s given 23 runs off 34 hits in 24 2/3 innings.
The one different thing about the night was the Twins’ mentality to strike. They jump started the scoring in the top 2nd when Delmon Young homered to the left, getting Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer register the score line for the team with him. That shot brought on 3 runs for the team and put their ambitions in front of the Rangers. Minnesota scored again in the top 3rd when Cuddyer got a double from a shot to the deep left. That hit got Orlando Hudson and Kubel through the last base for the ball club’s 5th run of the fixture.
Jim Thome, still beating strong on 40, justified his position as the designated hitter for the team, when he smashed his 582nd homer to the centre, along a distance of 422 feet. The strike got the Twins 6 points above the Rangers in the top 6th. However, the hosts responded in the bottom 7th with David Murphy, who reached the first base on an infield single to the second. Vladimir Guerrero scored off the single, bringing up the first run for Texas.
Andres Blanco then hit a sacrifice fly to the centre in the same inning to get Bengie Molina through for the 2nd run for Texas. The only other scoring shot came in the bottom 6th through Guerrero, who proved his mettle by smashing a whooping 419 feet homer to the left. Off the hit, Josh Hamilton got a free run to the base and ultimately brought 4 runs to the Rangers. Much to the dislike of the team, they lost to the Twins through a deficit of 2 runs. The score at the end of the fixture read, 6 Visitors – 4 Hosts.
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