Another game in which the Rangers rotation struggled. Another night on which the bullpen faltered.
But the unique thing about Friday's 12-3 loss to Kansas City was that at the very moment the team had the slightest chance to climb back into it, manager Ron Washington chose to surrender instead. With the Rangers down 9-0 in the seventh, but with the bases loaded, Washington chose to pull Michael Young and replace him with pinch-hitter Omar Vizquel. Among active players, Young has the sixth-highest batting average (.341) with runners in scoring position and the third highest average (.340) with runners in scoring position and two outs. Vizquel popped up to end the inning.
While it was fully expected that Washington would pull Young to start the eighth, the move in the seventh, with the bases loaded, seemed strange.
"The (score) played a part in it," Washington said. "We were down by nine runs and I wanted to get Omar an at-bat. I'll take the blame. That's on me. But I told Omar he was going in before the inning ever got started."
The move wasn't a game-breaker. The game-breaker was the 19 hits (including three homers) and seven walks surrendered by four Rangers pitchers. But it did seem to go against usual baseball protocol, which is to allow veterans to hit if there is one final chance to climb back into the game.
"I think we would have liked to have seen what would have happened with Mike at the plate," said left fielder Marlon Byrd. "I think (Washington) made the move he felt he needed to. I was thinking if Mike got up and then Josh (Hamilton) got up, well, you never know what might happen. You can always second-guess moves, but that's the move we made."
Said Young: "I think (Washington) wanted to get Omar in the game with us down by nine runs. My role is to play as hard as possible until I'm told I'm done."
ROYALS 12, RANGERS 3: LHP Matt Harrison got away from his game plan early and paid a price for it as the Rangers lost for the sixth time in the last seven games. Harrison had intended to establish his fastball early, but found himself throwing way too many breaking pitches and changeups for balls. As a result, he was constantly behind in the count and had to throw hitters fastballs when they were looking for it. He ended up surrendering six runs on eight hits (two homers) and four walks in just five innings.
