Derek Holland shines as Texas Rangers defeat Kansas City Royals 5-2 – MLB Spring Review
Derek Holland had a tremendous performance as he managed to pitch five brilliant innings giving up just one run on five hits and striking-out three as the Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals 5-2 in their Cactus League outing on Sunday, March 20 at
Surprise Stadium in Arizona.
The 24-year-old Holland, who is seeking to land a spot in the opening day rotation, had a very good day on the mound as he tossed some decent innings. He managed to contain the Royals’ offence and did not allow any homers off his pitching. Holland, making
his fourth start of spring managed a 2-0 record with a 3.21 ERA, and with this performance looks like he will be winning the spot in the opening day rotation line-up.
Holland’s future all depends on how Neftali Feliz performs over the next few outings. Feliz is a tremendous player and his chances of winning the rotation spot is very high.
"My goal is to make the rotation," Holland said. "Feliz wants to be there, too. It's going to go either way. It is our job to make it hard for them. If I get put in the bullpen, I'm going to be OK, but like I said I'm going to be in that rotation. I know
I will. I have confidence. Confidence is everything."
Besides Holland, the second hurler Brett Tomko also put in a commendable contribution as he allowed just one run in four innings while striking-out two. Both pitchers were extremely effective and the Rangers did not need to use any other hurlers in the game.
On the other hand, the Royals’ Joakim Soria put in a brilliant pitching performance as he managed to strike-out Mitch Moreland, Adrian Beltre and the powerful Michael Young. Right hand Robinson Tejada did not have such a good day as he gave up three hits
and two run from just over an inning pitched.
At bat, Mitch Moreland hit his third homer in the spring session as he got a brilliant two-run home-run off Royals’ Vin Mazzaro. Catcher Yorvit Torrealba, Chris Davis, Nelson Cruz and in-fielder Doug Deeds also added one run each to take the Rangers over
the Royals.
Jeff Francoeur and Brian Butler added one run each to the Royals only two runs of the game. The Royals’ struggled with their offence against the Rangers.
The Rangers managed to put in a good team effort as they played aggressively and dominated the Royals throughout the game. The Royals will be looking to improve their performance in the spring session and get up to par with the other leading teams before
the start of the regular season.
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