Adrian Beltre’s walk-off single in the ninth inning gave the Rangers a 3-2, come-from-behind victory over the Phillies.
Burnett Solid, Yet Unspectacular in Debut
-A.J. Burnett wasn’t great, but certainly wasn’t bad. He finished six innings, allowing one run on seven hits while striking out three and walking two. Burnett looked shaky at times running six three-ball counts, yet kept the team in shape to win. A fine first outing.
-Jake Diekman took the seventh inning, working back to back nights, and it didn’t end well. Adrian Beltre’s double scored Shin-Soo Choo that tied the game at 2-2.
-Mario Hollands made his major league debut in the ninth inning of a tie game. Very cool moment for him. Not a good time for that cool moment. In a high leverage situation in a game you should be winning, Hollands probably shouldn’t be the guy to get the ball there. Choo walked on four pitches then was sacrificed to second by Elvis Andrus. Prince Fielder also walked before Hollands was pulled for BJ Rosenberg. Another interesting selection with Brad Lincoln and Justin De Fratus having not yet pitched. Rosenberg gave up the walk-off hit to Beltre.
No Fireworks Tonight
-Scoring began in the sixth inning as Jimmy Rollins brought home Cesar Hernandez with an RBI single to make it 1-0. Ryan Howard, batting fifth for the first time since 2008, roped an RBI-double to the wall in right field that scored Jimmy. Howard doubled off lefty Martin Perez, a monumental early-season accomplishment as we know Ryno has struggled against southpaws in a major way the last few seasons.
-Rollins has five RBI in two games. He only managed seven through the entire month of April in 2013. On defense, Jamie Moyer quipped that he’d never seen a play made like the one Rollins made in the seventh inning. Rollins cut across the infield on the second base side and did an underhand flip to get Prince Fielder on a slow roller. Excellent break to the ball by Rollins.
-Cesar Hernandez was solid as the nine-hole hitter, finishing 2-for-3 with a double.
-Kudos to Ryne Sandberg for his lineup. It takes stones to completely alter the order one day after scoring 14 runs. This isn’t Charlie Manuel’s team anymore. Sandberg will do things his own way and is sticking to his plan. That said, I would have liked to see Cody Asche play the day after a great game – although I certainly understand the reasoning with the lefty on the mound. His bullpen management left something to be desired.
Replay It Again
-Instant Replay was used for the first time during a Phillies game. Ben Revere was called safe on a spinning pickoff move by Martin Perez and Ron Washington didn’t like the call. After review, it showed that Revere could not get his hand in under the tag of Donnie Murphy and the umpires overturned the call.
