Go go Texas Rangers: beat Rays in game one
When the Rangers traded for Cliff Lee in July they were hoping he would dominate the post-season.
What they got was exactly that, as Lee pitched seven strong innings to outpitch AL Cy Young candidate David Price and help his Texas Rangers to a 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
He did get off to a slow start, however, loading the bases in the first inning on three singles. From then on he pitched like the ace we saw in the play-offs last season, striking out 10 and only allowing just two hits after the first inning.
"I like pitching on a big stage. Just pitching in the big leagues alone is an honour, but when you get an opportunity to make it to the postseason that's what it's all about. That's what you play all year for. I enjoy it, and I try to have fun with it,” Lee said.
The only blemish was Ben Zobrist’s solo home run in the seventh inning, which came after a stretch where Lee retired 16 of 17 batters.
"It's not time to sit here and pat myself on the back. We've got a lot of work to do. "I feel good about helping us get off to a good start, and hopefully I can continue to do the same. That's what I expect to do,” Lee said.
The Rangers took the lead in the second inning with RBI’s from Jeff Francoeur and Bengie Molina. In fact the Rangers scored for four innings in a row when Molina and Nelson Cruz hit solo home runs and Vladimir Guerrero doubled home Josh Hamilton.
Lee improved his career post-season record to 5-0 and possibly earned himself an extra $10million in salary when he enters free agency this winter.
The Rays showed they are vulnerable to good pitching during the regular season and that showed yesterday when they failed to capitalise on Lee’s early struggles. Once he was out of that jam, Lee knew it was going to be his day.
"Just locating pitches, working ahead in the count .When I got out of the first inning, I knew things were going to go well,” Lee said.
Game two is tonight in Tampa with CJ Wilson taking the ball for Texas and James Shields starting for Tampa.
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