Matt Harrison shines as Texas Rangers beat Philadelphia Phillies, 2-0 – MLB Update
Texas Rangers’ starter, Matt Harrison dominated throughout the game as he pitched eight solid innings and the Rangers defeated Philadelphia Phillies 2-0 at Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia on May 22.
Harrison did not give away a score on five hits. He had three strike-outs and gave away three walks on his 117 pitches. Harrison said of his game, "Everything was working for me and I was throwing strikes. I knew with Oswalt pitching, it would be a close
game, so I wanted to give the team a chance to win. It's good to finally have a win. This is a real confidence booster for me.”
The first five innings went in favour of the pitchers as they allowed no run during this span. The batters were not able to add runs and got out to different field positions. The Phillies’ short-stop Jimmy Rollins was flown out to right-field and utility
infielder Wilson Valdez grounded out to second base in the fifth inning. The Rangers got off the mark in the sixth inning when Mitch Moreland doubled to deep left and Michael Young scored one run to give his team a 1-0 lead.
During the seventh inning, no score was contributed from either side. The Rangers extended their lead 2-0 in the fourth inning when Craig Gentry played a sacrifice bunt to the pitcher and Adrian Beltre posted a single run. Mike Napoli moved to second base
in no time. The last two innings remained empty for both teams.
The Rangers’ Manager Ron Washington was content with the performance of his team. Speaking to reporters, he said, “The plane ride will be a lot better. I hope this will be a momentum swing for us.”
On the other hand, the Phillies’ Manager Charlie Manuel was disappointed with the performance of batters. He said, “We're going to hit, we're going to hit better. We're going to bottom out one of these days. Hopefully, it was today.”
Roy Oswalt was economical with his pitches as he threw seven innings with an ERA of 2.77 and allowed just one run on eight hits including one earned run. He struck out three batters and permitted two walks on his 96 pitches.
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