San Diego Padres lose to Texas Rangers 1-2 in thrilling encounter – MLB Update
San Diego Padres lost to Texas Rangers 1-2 in a thrilling encounter at Petco Park in San Diego, California on Monday, June 18 in the opening game of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
The win will be of great importance for the Rangers, who are now 5 games ahead of second placed Los Angeles Angels.
Throughout the season, Ron Washington and his men have given some impressive performances. Their offence is one of the best in the American League. In Matt Harrison, they have one of the best starting pitchers in MLB.
"Pitching took over from there, defense took over from there," Washington said in a post game interview. "Every play that had to be made when a ball was put in play was made. I was so glad we were able to hang on."
Despite the batting lineup struggling to score enough runs on Monday evening, Harrison led his side to a sensational win over their AL West rivals. Showing great composure and temperament, the left hander gave up just one run and six hits in six effective
innings.
With his ninth win of the season, Harrison is now tied with C.C. Sabathia and Ivan Nova as the leader in AL wins.
Padres’ starting pitcher Jason Marquis also produced a masterful performance. However, despite his heroics, San Diego was unable to come up to with the winning formula.
Marquis struck out ten and walked three and he gave up just two runs in his seven solid innings to take his second loss of the season.
"If you keep the ball down on this team, you can have success. I gave up two early runs and it cost me the game," Marquis said.
"I didn't execute early like I wanted to and put a couple of guys on and Murphy found a hole," Marquis said. "I settled down after that."
David Murphy had an RBI single to centre in the first inning to put the Rangers 2-0 ahead. Third baseman Chase Headley doubled to deep centre in the first to score the only run for the Padres.
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