Colby Lewis earns praise for helping Texas Rangers dominate the Oakland Athletics – MLB Update
Colby Lewis put in a brilliant pitching performance as the Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics 13-4 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on Friday, September 9.
He was instrumental in securing a tremendous win over the American League West rivals. The player caught a lot of praise from his team-mates who have been supporting him since his shaky start, this season.
Designated Hitter and Texas team captain, Michael Young, played an important role in the fixture. He went 2 for 5, scoring runs on two occasions and securing four RBIs. He had a few words to share to the press.
"We swung the bats well tonight," Young said. "We were happy with our offensive approach, and Colby threw a great game. We fed off Colby tonight. He kept getting us back in the dugout."
Things kicked off with a two-run homer against Lewis but things got better after the first inning. The Rangers squared the tally in the bottom of the first and the hurler continued to pitch well up to the eighth inning where he allowed a single to Jemile
Weeks, who would score a run off a homer from team-mate Hideki Matsui. Lewis was replaced earlier with Mike Adams but he still earned the third run.
"After that first inning, he settled down and hit his spots," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "Most of the game, he kept the ball down, kept pounding the strike zone and kept getting outs."
Lewis went into seven innings, conceding just three runs from five hits. His 12th run came with a drop in his ERA to 4.29. He also struck-out seven hitters during his stint on the mound.
The hurler emphasised that it is all about location. The aim and the goal are to get ahead in the pitcher’s count, rather than the hitter’s count. The focus should be on keeping the ball down in the zone.
It will be interesting to see how Lewis is able to carry his winning momentum forward into their next match-up.
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