Texas Rangers crush the Arizona Diamondbacks in last inning – MLB Update
The Texas Rangers snatched another last inning victory, this time against big league rivals the Arizona Diamondbacks Monday in a Cactus League match at Salt River Fields in Arizona. The Rangers took their revenge of the last two meetings they lost to the
Diamondbacks.
Diamondbacks reliever, Juan Gutierrez, handed the victory to the Rangers, as he allowed four winning runs in the ninth inning. Gutierrez also washed out an impressive spell tossed by starter Daniel Hudson. The 24-year-old right-handed Hudson remained tremendous
throughout his five and half innings. It seems as if he has remembered his bad outing last time against the Rangers when he consumed seven runs in just two innings. Hudson bounced back striking-out four and walked two without allowing a single run.
"I said, ‘No, I'll go after them again.’ It is not a big deal. Everybody has those outings every once in a while. I just kind of push through it and go on to the next one," He said. "I had a couple of rough ones in a row. So it felt good to have a good outing
like that to end the spring and get going into the regular season."
The Diamondbacks success was obvious, as their pitchers remained strong in their spells. Reliever John Paterson, David Hernandez and Esmerling Vasquez did not allow runs in their short innings, but the game changed in last inning.
The Rangers, being two runs behind in ninth innings, took advantage of loose pitches by Gutierrez, who had 0-6 with a 5.08 earned run average last season. Willie Bloomquist led off the innings scoring a single off Ryan Roberts’ line drive to centre-fielder
Craig Gentry. Jared Bolden drove in one run tying the game on 4-4. The Rangers did not stop until they acquired a two run lead that confirmed their triumph.
Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson acknowledged the fact they have made some bad pitches and allowed room to score.
The Rangers were having some trouble in the start, as left-handed starting pitcher Matt Harrison allowed two runs on four hits including a homer in four innings. Harrison received a grand slam by first-baseman Russell Branyan who added his fifth home run
of spring. Branyan also had a homer against the Rangers last time he faced the team on Friday.
The Rangers’ manager Ron Washington was aware it could be damaging.
"Other than the ball that the big King Kong hit, I thought Harry did a good job of minimizing damage," Washington said. "It could have been worse than that but he settled down. He made pitches when he had to. He got outs when he needed the outs."
Rangers’ closers Neftali Feliz and Pedro Strop both allowed one run each.
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