FINAL SCORE IN ARLINGTON: Angels 11, Rangers14
In a game when Mike Scioscia left the team for a night, Alberto Callaspo left for good, and pitching coach Mike Butcher spent more time on the mound than a couple of his pitchers, the Angels managed to squander a 4-run lead on a hot Texas night.
C.J. Wilson threw 109 pitches on the night, however that was only good enough to take him through 4 innings. The pitcher who likes to paint the corners gave up 6 runs on 11 hits, while striking out 6 and walking three. He left the game with the Angels trailing by three runs after four innings, yet the night was still young.
The two teams combined for 35 hits and 16 base-on-balls, resulting in 25 runs, with the game lasting more than 4 hours. Included in the Halos' 16 hits was Howie Kendrick's 1000th career base hit, a 2-RBI single added to the Angels' brief lead in the 8th.
In the seventh, Josh Hamilton hit a bases-loaded double that gave the Angels a 7-6 lead, but like the other Halo leads on the night, this one was short-lived, as the Rangers tied the game at seven in the bottom of the seventh. However, the Angels were able to continue their scoring binge for the night by adding another 4 runs in the eighth to give them a lead they'd be able to hold on to...maybe.
The eighth inning featured 6 hits by the Halo hitters, resulting in a 4-run lead, however, much like their earlier leads, the Angels weren't content on ending the night with an easy win. Dane De LA Rose, the Angels pitcher you're most likely to see in a game, surrendered a 3-run home run to last night's Ranger Hero Geovany Soto, bringing the Rangers to within one. Fortunately, Angels' rookie Nick Moronde struck out David Murphy to end the inning, protecting the one-run lead.
And then, for the second night in-a-row, the Angels couldn't hold on to the lead in the ninth. After Moronde's strike out of Leonys Martin to begin the inning, last night's losing pitcher, Ernesto Frieri came on to close out the game. At least this time he didn't give up the winning run, just a 2-out Adrian Beltre single that tied the game at eleven.
Some guy named Daniel Stange came in to pitch the 10th, walked the first two batters he faced, and then gave up a 3-run, walk-off home run for a 14-11 loss.
Among the Angels' highlights were Mike Trout's fourth 4-hit game of the season, Collin Cowgill's first Angel home run, Mark Trumbo's 23rd homer run of the season, and Kendrick's milestone hit. We'll forget the lowlights for one night. Except for...
Umpire Jerry Layne was able to do something a lot of Angels' fans would love to do, he got rid of the Halo skipper. However, it was only for one game.
Mike Scioscia was given the quick boot in the second inning as he started to argue a close play at first base. Replays showed the play could have gone either way, but the interesting thing to watch about the argument was...the lack of an argument. Layne refused to engage the Halo skipper.