Justin Smoak shines as Seattle Mariners overpower Texas Rangers, 4-3: MLB Update
The Seattle Mariners’ first baseman, Justin Smoak, was outstanding with the bat as he hit two RBIs and went 3-for-4 in the Mariners’ 4-3 victory against the Texas Rangers at the Safeco Field in Seattle on May 3.
Smoak expressed his excitement as, “We always feel like we're in it. Our pitching is going to keep us in games and as along as we can get those clutch hits with guys in scoring position we've got a chance.”
The Rangers began the first inning with 1-0 lead when Ian Kinsler and Andres Blanco got a walk. Chone Figgins made an error and Kinsler posted a single run on the grounder of Adrian Beltre. The Mariners scored their first run in the third inning when
Ichiro Suzuki grounded for a double-play and tied the game by 1-1.
The Rangers remained scoreless from second to fifth inning. Kinsler pushed the lead 2-1 for the Rangers in the sixth inning by moving towards the third base on the sacrifice fly of Blanco and posted a run on Michael Young’s grounder. In the seventh
inning, Ryan Langerhans slid towards the first base to complete a run on the sacrifice bunt of Brendan Ryan and re-tying the game at 2-2.
The Rangers’ centre fielder, Julio Borbon, added one run in the eighth inning to lead the team with 3-2, but in the same inning, Smoak singled for a tie and Jack Cust led off the Mariners by 4-3 with his RBI single towards the middle field. Adam Kennedy
hit a fly-ball in the left field position, but David Murphy stopped him to take a single.
Cust said of his performance, “I've faced him a bunch over the years. I know he doesn't really have a pattern or anything like that. So you just have to be ready to hit. I know what his ball does ... the pitch was up a little bit and I was able to
get it through the infield.”
The Mariners’ starter, Erik Bedard, also shined in this convincing victory. He threw seven innings and permitted just two runs on seven hits with two earned runs and two walks. Bedard struck three batters on his solid pitching. He was delighted with
his game plan and said, “As the game progressed the changeup got really good and the curveball too. I was throwing them for strikes and that's what helped me out later in the game.”
David Pauley pitched in the eighth inning and gave away one earned run on two hits while the Mariners, closer, Brandon League, threw his first save and had two strike-outs in just one inning pitched. On the other side, the Rangers’ reliever, Pedro
Strop, was too expensive as he allowed three runs on four hits with three earned runs in one inning pitches.
Tags: