In the third, Pete Kozma, playing third for the Rangers today, thought he was out on a close play at first. At least by crowd noise, he thought he was out. The ump called him safe on an un-emphatic call. The first base coach had to bring Kozma back from the dugout. Pete next thought he was out on a fielder’s choice at second and went to the dugout. However, a review showed him safe, so back on to the field he went. With the bases loaded, Shin-Soo Choo was called for interference going into second, resulting in a double play. Kosma went back to the dugout, inning over. Wait. Review. Choo was ruled out, but no interference. Kosma has now scored because of this ruling. He doesn’t have to come back out of the dugout this time though. 1-1 tied.
The bottom of the third also got messy, but proved more productive for the White Sox, as they scored three more runs. 4-1 White Sox and a 48-minute third inning. Mike Napoli hit a homer in the fourth. Matt Hicks had no trouble calling it. Robinson Chirinos, the Rangers catcher, stole second on a throwing error. Later, he got to third and took home on a wild pitch. 4-3 Sox. “A Little League game has broken out,” observed Eric after the White Sox had managed to commit four errors in the last two innings.
The Rangers loaded the bases in the fifth with no outs. Two outs later, Jonathan Lucroy blooped in a single to score two and give the Rangers a 5-4 lead. Matt Bush came out in the seventh and pitched well. Unfortunately, the problem seems to be Rangers relievers in general. Jose LeClerc gave up a two-run homer and the lead in the eighth. 6-5 White Sox.
In the ninth, Adrian Beltre was given a free pass with two on and two out. Carlos Gomez then struck out on a wild pitch. The catcher managed to retrieve the ball and tag home before pinch runner, Joey Gallo, could cross the plate. Unfortunately, he didn’t come in as a pinch runner earlier or if only the Rangers had a speedy player on the bench, when a double might have scored him from first. 6-5 White Sox final. The Rangers have the worst record in the league in one-run games. Everyone thought that their awesome record last year in one-run games would eventually even out. It just took a while. Meanwhile, Jared Sandler was going to be doing a Frisco Roughriders game tonight with, former Ranger, David Murphy. That’s a tough double header for Jared.
Speaking of double headers, the Chihuahuas started playing the Aces two hours early this evening to accommodate two, seven-inning games. Given how late the decision was made about canceling last night’s game, I think a lot of fans didn’t hear about it. Tim Hagerty was a little freaked out by how deserted the stadium was. I wasn’t entirely playing attention during the top of the first, but I’m still wondering what happened as Tim gave the line of “No runs, no hits, no errors, and the bases left loaded,” at the end of the inning. He commented that no balls were put in play.
In the third, it was a little more clear cut as the Aces scored three, though the last three batters all struck out. In the fourth, it was 6-0 Aces. It was nearly silent in the stadium during the inning. Oswaldo Arcia did have an amusing moment, as he forgot the count and walked back to the dugout after a strike. A coach had to direct him back to the batter’s box, as he wasn’t out. Fifth inning, 12-0 Aces. Thank goodness nobody is there watching this. Tim spent most of his time going over the just announced All-Star Game rosters. It was quiet enough to hear an Aces’ player beating the bat rack after making an out. Tim mentioned that Albuquerque put up a sign making players liable for broken dugout equipment. Finally, it’s over. 12-0 Aces. Even at seven innings and two hours and thirty-five minutes, that was way too long.
It was not, however, as long as 30 inane minutes of ESPN Radio during the intermission. I really should have switched stations while waiting. Even if you’re a big NBA/The Bachelor fan, these idiots’ chatter couldn’t possibly have been entertaining to you. The Aces scored a run in the second, but the Chihuahuas finally put up a run in the bottom. The crowd cheered.
Tim had a couple of guests. A veteran was made manager-for-a-day and got to hang out with the team before the game and give the ump the lineup card. Tim was impressed with his long service record, but not enough to hold him over after a very short half inning. Next, Tim had a young lady on, who was making her first trip to the ballpark. She liked to play softball and praised the Boys and Girls Club. It was another short interview.
The tie was broken in the fifth by a Socrates Brito home run for the Aces. You gotta love that name. The Aces scored three in the inning for a 4-1 lead. Catcher’s interference was called in the inning, which gave the batter first base. Normally, this would start a seldom-used rules discussion, but not tonight. In the bottom, Ryan Schimpf homered to finally give the crowd something to get excited about. Nick Buss continued the crowd-pleasing with a triple. But the inning ended on the next pitch from an Aces’ reliever. 4-2 Aces.
In the bottom of the ninth, Ryan Schimpf hit another home run to excite the crowd, but it was a 4-3 loss anyway. There ended up being over 9,000 in attendance. At least they were going to be getting fireworks. Tim sounded a bit tired after five and half hours of baseball, which might explain his reluctance to talk about Catcher’s interference. I’m a bit bushed too. Later, I realized I'd listened to two of my teams lose three games today, which sucks.
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