Texas Rangers hitters praise Alexi Ogando pitching performance
The Texas Rangers may have won the American League Championship Series but it will be a daunting task to go up against the St. Louis Cardinals for the World Series title. There are a lot of good things about the Texans however. They have Nelson Cruz, who
set a postseason record with six homers in a playoff series, and they have a very strong bullpen contingent. Hitters took the time to talk about one of them on Sunday, October 16. Alexi Ogando was the topic of discussion.
"If you would have said at the beginning of this series that our starting pitching wasn't going to do well, I'm sure it would've made some guys nervous around here," said Texas outfielder David Murphy. "But our bullpen came up so big that all we needed to
do was get our starter through four or five innings. Nelson Cruz was a big-time hero this series, but I'd definitely say Alexi Ogando could have been the MVP right behind him."
The Rangers managed to put the Detroit Tigers to the sword on Saturday, October 15, when they managed a nine-run third inning and Ogando pitched two scoreless innings to pick up his second win of the playoffs. The 13 – 8 starter throughout the regular season,
has been doing very well in the postseason as a reliever and it has been a revelation to see the star make the Rangers look like a dominant force on the mound.
"He was terrific, he was terrific," said Adrian Beltre. "I think that he was the main guy in our bullpen that kept us alive.
The hurler pitched two innings, conceding just one hit, while collecting three strikeouts in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Detroit Tigers. His current earning runs average is 0.87 and there is a lot of evidence to suggest
that he will be on top of his game when the Texans take on the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.
Manager Ron Washington made a big sacrifice when he played one his starters as a reliever in the pen. The strategy has however worked and it will continue to work in the World Series if Ogando plays well.
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