The Tampa Bay Rays faced the the Texas Rangers yesterday at Rangers Ballpark with the Rays winning 9 to 5. It was quite a game that followers with Rays tickets will be talking about for days.
Rays pitcher Matt Garza (3.31 ERA) got the win, while Rich Harden (5.34 ERA) took the loss for the Rangers. Matt Garza went 5.2 innings for the Rays, allowed 6 hits, one home run and 4 earned runs with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. Also pitching for the Rays was Dan Wheeler (3.00), Randy Choate (6.00), Grant Balfour (1.78), Joaquin Benoit (0.71), and Rafael Soriano (1.59). The Rangers’s starter Rich Harden went 5 innings, allowed 4 hits, 2 home runs and 3 earned runs with 3 walks and 6 strikeouts. Dustin Nippert (4.82), Frank Francisco (4.68), Darren O’Day (2.42), and Chris Ray (3.70) also pitched for the Rangers. With the win, Garza’s record goes to 6-4, while Harden falls to 3-2.
John Jaso provided much of the offense for the Rays with an incredible 5 runs batted in. In addition to the 9 runs, the Rays managed 13 hits and committed no errors. B.J. Upton and John Jaso tied for most hits for the Rays with 3 hits, followed by Reid Brignac with 2 hits. Carl Crawford had a tough day at the plate, leaving 6 runners on base. The Rangers didn’t have anyone with a big night with not one batter getting more than 2 hits. The Rangers managed 5 runs, 10 hits and 2 errors.
Umpiring duties were performed by Chris Guccione, Jerry Crawford, Brian O’Nora and Scott Barry. There were 26,932 Rangers ticket holders in attendance at Rangers Ballpark.