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By Ben Wertz
When you leave 11 men on base, go 1-10 with runners in scoring position and commit a costly error on a routine popup, you deserve to lose. And that’s exactly what happened to the Rangers on Friday night as they fell to the Minnesota Twins 5-1 for their fifth consecutive loss.
When you leave 11 men on base, go 1-10 with runners in scoring position and commit a costly error on a routine popup, you deserve to lose. And that’s exactly what happened to the Rangers on Friday night as they fell to the Minnesota Twins 5-1 for their fifth consecutive loss.
Rangers’ starter Martin Perez actually pitched a pretty decent ballgame, but the offense and defense both let him down. A one-out walk to Ben Revere in the third inning came back to haunt Perez as Revere came around to score on a two-out RBI single by Joe Mauer to put the Twins in the board. The next batter, Josh Willingham, hit what seemed like a harmless popup that should’ve ended the inning, but Mike Napoli misplayed the ball at first base, allowing the ball to drop in fair territory. Mauer came around to score and Willingham ended up at second base as Napoli got turned around and eventually fell down on the play. Morneau would follow with an RBI single to give the Twins a 3-0 lead after three innings of play.
Mauer would add another RBI in the fourth on a sacrifice fly, but that would be all Perez would give up. The youngster pitched six innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on six hits. He struck out three and walked three while throwing 106 pitches. Considering the pathetic defense behind him and it only being his second MLB start, I think Perez did a pretty good job.
The Rangers threatened in the sixth inning when Adrian Beltre led off with a single and Michael Young walked. Nelson Cruz followed with a solid RBI single to put the Rangers on the board and cut the deficit to three. However, with no outs and two men on, Napoli continued his horrendous game by bouncing into a 6-4-3 double play on a pitch that looked out of the strike zone, effectively killing the Rangers’ rally.
The Twins would add their other run of the game on a solo home run by Justin Morneau off of Tanner Scheppers in the seventh. But by then, the game was out of reach considering how putrid the Texas offense has been this week.
So the Rangers have lost five games in a row. They haven’t won a game this week, and as my fellow SDI colleague James Holland (@SDIJamesHolland) pointed out, that means they haven’t won a game this month. The Rangers have scored a grand total of nine runs during those five losses, including only one run in three of those games. Even if your pitching is going well, you’re not going to win many games scoring just one or two runs each night.
The Rangers will look to get back into the win column on Saturday night as Derek Holland (5-4, 5.10) makes his return to the mound. Holland hasn’t pitched in a month due to shoulder fatigue, so we will see if he can stop the bleeding. Holland will be opposed by righty Samuel Deduno who will be making the first start of his major league career. Deduno was 1-2 in nine starts at AAA Rochester with a 2.14 ERA. He does have the penchant for walking people as evidenced by his 22 walks in 42 innings pitched for the Red Wings.
Mauer would add another RBI in the fourth on a sacrifice fly, but that would be all Perez would give up. The youngster pitched six innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on six hits. He struck out three and walked three while throwing 106 pitches. Considering the pathetic defense behind him and it only being his second MLB start, I think Perez did a pretty good job.
The Rangers threatened in the sixth inning when Adrian Beltre led off with a single and Michael Young walked. Nelson Cruz followed with a solid RBI single to put the Rangers on the board and cut the deficit to three. However, with no outs and two men on, Napoli continued his horrendous game by bouncing into a 6-4-3 double play on a pitch that looked out of the strike zone, effectively killing the Rangers’ rally.
The Twins would add their other run of the game on a solo home run by Justin Morneau off of Tanner Scheppers in the seventh. But by then, the game was out of reach considering how putrid the Texas offense has been this week.
So the Rangers have lost five games in a row. They haven’t won a game this week, and as my fellow SDI colleague James Holland (@SDIJamesHolland) pointed out, that means they haven’t won a game this month. The Rangers have scored a grand total of nine runs during those five losses, including only one run in three of those games. Even if your pitching is going well, you’re not going to win many games scoring just one or two runs each night.
The Rangers will look to get back into the win column on Saturday night as Derek Holland (5-4, 5.10) makes his return to the mound. Holland hasn’t pitched in a month due to shoulder fatigue, so we will see if he can stop the bleeding. Holland will be opposed by righty Samuel Deduno who will be making the first start of his major league career. Deduno was 1-2 in nine starts at AAA Rochester with a 2.14 ERA. He does have the penchant for walking people as evidenced by his 22 walks in 42 innings pitched for the Red Wings.
Ben Wertz is a Staff Writer for Shutdown Inning. You can email him at Ben.Wertz@shutdowninning.com or reach him on Twitter @RangersExaminer
