Hayden and Rangers’ Bullpen lose ‘Rich’ no-hit bid in the 9th but pummel Twins
It’s been over a decade since the Minnesota Twins lost to a no-hitter. Back then, David Wells was the last to do the honours, pitching a perfect game for the New York Yankees in 1998. This season has been a special one as it has seen 5 no-hit games already. Last night’s match was an almost no-hit exhibition. The Texas Rangers stretched their efforts to the last inning but lost their bid, thanks to Joe Mauer’s single to the centre field off All Star closer Neftali Feliz’s pitching.
Texas has not registered a no-hit result since July 28th, 1994. In that game Kenny Rogers pitched a perfect game against California. The ball club was on their way to the much awaited result but lost all chance in the 9.1 inning. Prior to the match up, the Rangers came off a win and a split series against the Baltimore Orioles. The team was looking to recover its hold on the first position in the West Division League table. They’re 0-3 series defeat to the Tampa Bay Rays was an unfortunate reality to deal with. Now it was a new series to capitalize on and Manager Ron Washington, brought on Rich Hayden to do the job with his pitching. The 28-year-old has been anything short of dependable throughout his career.
The right arm starting pitcher has been in the Major League business for 7 years. The veteran has been on the Disabled List (DL) 9 times in the past 6 seasons. The pitcher joined the Rangers last winter, for $7.5 million when he was a free agent. But, as mentioned before, the player has a tough time dealing with injuries. This tenure has seen him on the DL, twice. He was out for six weeks in the league with left gluteal muscle strain, earlier. When he came back, he only lasted two games before he went back to the DL again.
However, this game was a difference maker for the pitcher as he threw the ball 111 times in his 6.2 innings of play. The player gave away 5 strategic walks and managed to come out with 6 strike outs. Bullpen members, Matt Harrison and Darren O’Day were also hitless in their 1.2 innings of pitching. Feliz was the last one to pitch and he was hit once in his last 1 inning ball throwing, thus ending the no-hit campaign, ultimately.
The Minnesota Twins looked the better team, going into the fixture. They have the won last 5 series and they were clearly coming in with a better preparation than the Rangers who came out with a draw against Baltimore. The management introduced Nick Blackburn who has spanned for 2 losses in his deciding starts in the recent past. With his Earning Runs Average on 6.49, it felt like Hayden had a better chance to quell the hitters than him.
Nick was unfortunate again to lose the game as the Rangers smashed his throws for 8 hits and 3 runs. Blackburn gave away no walks and struck out 5 players in his 97 pitches of 7 innings of play.
Though the Twins were the ones to start batting, their performance was hindered by the Ranger’s superb pitching. They never got to the score board. The Rangers however, were luckier in that respect as the heroes from day before yesterday, Josh Hamilton and Vladimir Guerrero went on to score. David Murphy was responsible for the runs as he drove a triple to the deep centre to bring up an RBI (Running Bat Ins) double in the bottom 1st.
Julio Borbon became the third scorer when he sprinted through the last base off Michael Young’s grounder to the fielder’s choice to short stop. The third run came in the bottom 5th, as the team were looking strong on the cards. The game’s last scoring instance came in the bottom 8th when Josh Hamilton hit a sacrifice fly to the centre. That shot gave Elvis Andrus all the right space to sprint for the 4th and final run of the team.
The game ended on Texas 4-0 Minnesota and this marks the start of an exciting series start. Both teams will fight tooth and nail as the wins are important for the playoffs and it is very important the ball clubs get through with a wider gap in their respective division table.
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