Matt Harrison shines as Texas Rangers defeat Minnesota Twins 4-1 – MLB Update
American League’s Texas Rangers romped to stunning 4-1 triumph in the rubber game against the League rivals Minnesota Twins at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on Thursday, July 28 to tie the four-game series 2-all.
Rangers’ vintage ace Matt Harrison exhibited his brilliant pitches with the ball in the crucial game. The 25-year-old hurler held the Twins scoreless until the top of the sixth inning, when he allowed the only run to the Twins’ designated hitter Jim Thome.
Besides this run, Harrison went for eight hits and one walk over his seven innings to grasp his ninth win of the season.
"The most important thing is that we win the game," said Harrison, who snatched his fifth straight win. "I had a couple of innings where I was having to battle and I was executing pitches to get out of the inning without giving up too many runs, and I was
able to minimize the damage."
Thome started the fifth inning with a double to left-field then Harrison gave away two pop-outs, allowing two infield singles to load the bases, but Tsuyoshi Nishioka's ruled out the chance with his fielder’s choice’s grounded to second base.
"He's staying out of deep counts, getting a lot of ground balls, and had some quick innings early," Rangers’ manager Ron Washington said. "He executed pitches when things got a little hairy there. Thome leads off with a double and doesn't score, so that's
a good thing."
Rangers’ Nelson Cruz and Mitch Moreland each scored an RBI single in the eighth inning to finalise the game 4-1.
Yoshinori Tateyama and Arthur Rhodes combined to throw scoreless eighth inning for the Rangers while closer Neftali Feliz worked a perfect ninth inning to seize his 21st save of the season.
Twins’ starter Scott Baker yielded two runs on eight hits and struck-out four batters over seven innings but that did not save him from his sixth loss in the 2011 regular season. This loss has dropped his record to 8-6 with 2.82 ERA in 19 starts.
Closer Phil Dumatrait gave away two runs and one walk over one inning.
After managing to tie their series, the Rangers will now land at Rogers Centre in Toronto against the Blue Jays with their crushing starter Alexi Ogando.
The Twins, on the other hand will visit the Oakland Athletics, who are now in good shape after taking four-game series 2-2 against the Tampa Bay Rays. Twins’ batting line-up will also have to contribute if the club want to crush the opposition, as it is
a battle of two inconsistent starters, Twins’ Francisco Liriano and A’s Gio Gonzalez.
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