Elvis Andrus attracts admiration from manager and pitcher after Game 2 antics
Game 2 of the World Series may have ended a day ago but that did not stop Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington and pitcher Colby Lewis from praising the club’s regular shortstop, Elvis Andrus, on Friday, October 21. The fielder was on top of his game during the encounter with the St. Louis Cardinals at the Busch Stadium in St. Louis. There is a desire to see the player at his best in Game 3 at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington as well.
The Rangers won Game 2 by a 2 – 1 score line. However the picture would have been very different if Andrus did not field or bat the way he did on Thursday. During the fifth inning of the game, Andrus fielded a stunning grounder from Rafael Furcal, diving to the field to snatch the ball up. But before he made contact with the ground, he popped the ball towards an incoming Ian Kinsler.
The exchange was successful as Kinsler forced a play out on St. Louis’ Jaime Garcia. Lewis was the pitcher at that time.
"I'm a pretty even-keeled guy, but I gave it a fist pump," said right-hander Colby Lewis. "I was pretty excited about it. It saved a run."
That was however not the only highlight of the night as Andrus also scored the winning game of the night with a run to the home plate on a sacrifice fly hit by first baseman Michael Young. His fast base running allowed him to reach second base, earlier, in a risky situation as St. Louis fielder, John Jay threw in the ball to Albert Pujols.
Pujols made an error and that led to Andrus’ success on the bases. Ron Washington had nothing but admiration first his regular shortstop.
"He saved us right there," Washington said, initially referring to Andrus' defence. "He kept runs off the board, and that's exactly the type of play that he's capable of doing. ... He's one of the biggest guys in our line up when it comes to getting clutch base hits, and he did a good job fighting Motte."
Andrus will now be involved in Game 3 and many fans are hoping he can exactly do what he did in Game 4.
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