Derek Holland shines as Texas Rangers defeat Seattle Mariners 5-0 – MLB Recap
Texas Rangers’ starter, Derek Holland was impressive with his pitching as he threw shut-out innings with an ERA of 4.32 in the Rangers’ 5-0 win against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field, Seattle on July 14.
In the first inning of the game, the Rangers led off 1-0 by scoring one run. Josh Hamilton struck a one-run homer (386 feet) to right-field to give the Rangers a solid start. Nelson Cruz homered (356 feet) towards right-field during the second inning to
take the Rangers’ lead 2-0.
Michael Young singled off left-field, Elvis Andrus added the third run for the Rangers and then Young advanced to second base on the throwing error of the Mariners’ fielders. The Rangers were leading with 3-0 at the end of third inning. Fourth and fifth
innings were in favour of the pitchers as they did not allow any run during this span.
Holland gifted just five hits and had eight strike-outs on his 118 pitches. At the bottom of the fourth inning, Ichiro Suzuki was grounded out to second base, Brendan Ryan grounded out to short-stop and Dustin Ackley struck-out looking without giving a single
run to the Mariners. The Rangers were also unable to extend their lead at the top of the fifth inning as Hamilton was grounded out to second base and Yorvit Torrealba struck-out swinging.
Holland commented on the game and said, “I just got caught looking at the scoreboard at the wrong time. I got a reminder when I walked that guy and the crowd started cheering. I gave up the perfect game but had to keep going from there.”
The Rangers’ manager, Ron Washington commented on Halladay and said, “That's two in a row throwing the ball the way we know he's capable of throwing. He had his breaking ball, he moved it around, he elevated, he threw down. He pitched very well tonight.”
During the sixth inning, the Rangers got a 5-0 lead by contributing two runs. Mike Napoli homered (395 feet) towards right-centre field and Carlos Gentry added one run on the single-run drive of Andrus to right-field. In the last three innings, the batters
failed to connect even a single throw of the pitchers.
The Rangers went ahead 1-0 in a four-game series after snatching a credible victory at Safeco Field.
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