The Texas Rangers are in town for the first of three against the Angels, after which that other Texas team will arrive for three more. The Angels need to take a chance, send all these bozos packin’ and emerge as undisputed division leaders!
I swear I’m not a Texas fan. I just heard this song live in Flagstaff in about 1977/1978 while I was abusing one or more substances. I found the song hilarious. Man, those were the days! I still do find it hilarious. I since have found out at least the lyrics were written by Stuart Margolin which is very cool because I am a fan of his (RIP).
Now on to the first Rangers game. Nobody scored in the first inning. The Angels got some tough breaks in their half. That’s baseball.
Texas didn’t do much in the second inning except that Jonah Heim stole second base on Matt Thaiss. They didn’t score. The Angels also didn’t do anything of note. Here is Anthony Rendon showing why we don’t have Taylor Ward or Matt Thais playing third base.
Anderson walked a couple of guys to start off the third inning. He added another walk after getting Adolis Garcia out on a sac fly. It all led to a result of 1-0 Rangers.
In the third Zach Neto reached on an error by Dane Dunning. Mike Trout singled. Unfortunately, Shohei Ohtani made out on one pitch to end the inning.
In the fourth Texas scored runs and it was obviously time for the Angels to put it into second gear. Marcus Semien hit a ground rule double to score a run and Nathaniel Lowe reached on a throwing error to core the other run. 3-0 Texas.
Anthony Rendon singled and then Renfroe grounded into a double play to erase that. Taylor Ward struck out. 3-0 Texas.
In the fifth inning Texas didn’t do much. Neither did the Angels.
Jaime Barria came in for the sixth inning. Marcus Semien singled but Barria held the Rangers scoreless at 3-0 Rangers. The Angels once again did nothing in their half of the inning
Jaime Barria was lockdown in the top of the seventh inning. Good to see. Hunter Renfroe got a one out single in the bottom of the seventh. None of the other Angels batter were able to do anything.
In the top of the eighth, Leody Taveras reached on a single and made it to third on a fielder’s choice and a throwing error by Anthony Rendon. Oops! Robbie Grossman reached on a fielder’s choice with Taveras out at home plate. At this point there were two outs. Nathan Lowe singled to make it 4-0 Texas. That was the extent of the Texas scoring in the eighth inning.
Gio Urshela got a pinch hit single in the bottom of the eighth inning. Luis Rengifo grounded out and Zach Neto hit a fly out to left. Mike Effin’ Trout singled to destroy the shutout. Oh wait. That’s not his real name. Shohei Ohtani grounded out to end the inning.
Top of the ninth and Barria is still pitching … and pitching effectively I might add. The Rangers went three up three down. The Angels needed three runs to stay in the game. Anthony Rendon came up. He singled. Yee Haw said the non-Texas fan! Hunter Renfroe did not reach safely, unfortunately. Taylor Ward also failed to reach base without making an out. Brandon Drury singled to send Taylor Ward to second. (He had reached on a force out). Chad Wallach doubled. Taylor Ward and Brandon Drury both scored. Bloody Hell! This is an actual game! Luis Rengifo, he of the four RBI game yesterday, is now up as the potential winning run. What did he do? He singled to tie it up in the bottom of the ninth. I might take back some of the stuff I said about him. (I might). Zach Neto was unfortunately out on a fly ball to right. Oh crap, the ghost runner is incoming.
Now we get Carlos Estevez. We might even win this! He struck out Leody Taveras and Travis Jankowsky. Marcus Semien walked. Robbie Grossman grounded out. Ghost runner be damned!
For the Angels, Zach Neto started the tenth on second base. The Rangers intentionally walked Mike Trout to bring up Shohei Ohtani with two on and no outs. He grounded into a force out. Zach Neto is now on third with one out. Anthony Rendon was standing there with a bat in his hands when Josh Sborz threw a wild pitch to score Zach Neto. 5-4 Angels. Sbatz all folks!
She said “Tex I’m gonna cut you boy from appetite to thirst!”
