Rangers 2, Astros 1: Obie's Struggles, Cold Bats Lead to Second Straight Loss

Astros go for win number 70 again tonight, trying to start another winning streak after a close (winnable) game last night.  Brett Oberholtzer takes the mound to face Nick Martinez for the Arlington Rangers.

Obie never looked comfortable tonight.  He had runners on base in all 5 innings he pitched in.  In 4 of those innings the runners were in scoring position.  In the Rangers half of the 4th, Robinson Chirinos led off the inning with a home run.  J.P. Arencibia followed with a double, and moved to third on a bunt.  Daniel Robertson drove Arencibia in for a 2-0 lead with a single.  After a walk to Elvis Andrus, Obie was able to get a double play to stop the bleeding.  He only lasted 4 1/3 innings before giving way to the bullpen.  He threw 91 pitches, and only 49 were for strikes.

At the plate it was one of those games where the team got some hits here and there, but never really threatened against Martinez, who looked like a Cy Young contender against this lineup.  At times it had the feeling of a no-hitter, even though I knew we had recorded some hits.   In the 2nd inning they put together back to back 2-out singles, but the runners were stranded on a Jon Singleton strikeout.  In the 7th, Marwin Gonzalez hit a 2-out double, but was stranded on a Max Stassi pinch-hit strikeout.  Those were the only runners the Astros had in scoring position until the 9th inning.

With one out in the 9th, Dexter Fowler drew a walk, and then Jake Marisnick hit a long popup that landed just fair down the right field line for a double.  Fowler scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt Dominguez to cut the lead in half.  That was all we would get, as Jonathan Villar grounded out to end the game.

If you want to look on the bright side, the Rangers only scored 2 runs, even though they had runners on base all night.  I guess that means our pitchers were really good tonight at getting out of trouble (or getting into trouble).  Come back tomorrow as the Astros once again try for win number 70, and try to salvage one game in this Arlington series.

Fun Facts

This is my last recap of the season.  Thanks for reading, commenting and correcting me in this first year of writing on TCB.