--3B Michael Young's home run helped diminish the heat manager Ron Washington would have taken for not pinch hitting for struggling 1B Chris Davis with the game on the line in the eighth inning. Davis, who was pinch-hit for on Thursday, was allowed to face LHP George Sherrill with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth inning. He ended up striking out for the second time in the game, but Washington said the Rangers will need to rely on Davis long-term and that's why he wasn't pinch hit for. Washington said he's simply trying to building confidence.
--The Rangers struck out eight times on Friday and now have an AL-worst 142 for the season. Davis has struck out 27 times in 54 at-bats. Five other Rangers have each struck out at least 14 times. --LHP Derek Holland, who was called up Saturday after just five appearances above Class A, made his major league debut Wednesday under less-than-ideal circumstances. It only served to make his appearance that much more impressive. He entered with the bases loaded in the sixth inning and proceeded to pitch 2 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball to keep Texas in the game. Holland allowed three singles but no walks. He struck out two and threw 29 of 42 pitches for strikes.
BY THE NUMBERS: .678 -- Percentage of times the Rangers had taken on the first pitch through their first 11 games. It was the lowest percentage in the AL. The only other team that took less than 70 percent of the time was Tampa Bay (.694). Nine teams took 73 percent of the time or more.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "It will come around. And when it does, it's going to be big." -- CF Josh Hamilton, who took a 1-for-16 stretch that included 10 strikeouts into the week. Hamilton has been trying to make a switch back to a timing mechanism to start his swing that he used last year.
