Young spoils old baseball strategy
ARLINGTON, Texas – Michael Young knew what the Seattle Mariners were hoping to do when they intentionally walked the batter in front of him. The Texas shortstop spoiled the plan.
Young hit a three-run double and then scored on an errant relay throw, and the Rangers won 8-2 Thursday night to move a game ahead of Seattle and out of last place in the American League West.
“Pitch to the really good left-hander ahead of me with runners on second and third and less than two outs, or bring in the guy from the bullpen who’s a really good sinker-slider guy and shoot for the double play,” Young said. “I would have done the same thing.”
With Young standing on deck with one out in the seventh, Mariners starter Joel Pineiro (7-10) intentionally walked leadoff hitter Gary Matthews Jr. to load the bases. Julio Mateo then took over on the mound.
“If Mateo throws the ball the way he can, we have a good chance to get out of the inning,” manager Mike Hargrove said.
Instead, Young hit a double into the left-field corner.
“Mike takes the emotion of the at-bat, like he’s playing whiffle ball in the back yard,” Rangers manager Buck Showalter said.
Young had already grounded into a team-high 22 double plays. But the three-time All-Star is also 7 for 9 with 18 RBIs when the bases are loaded this season, and 26 for 65 (.400) in his career.
Matthews ran through third-base coach Steve Smith’s stop sign, prompting shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt’s errant double-clutch throw that got past catcher Kenji Johjima and went into a camera well. That allowed Young to score as well.
An inning earlier, Mark Teixeira’s three-run double put the Rangers ahead 3-2, and extended his on-base streak to 34 games.
Adam Eaton (2-2), who threw only 18 pitches in his start Sunday before being ejected, went six innings in only his fourth start for the Rangers since coming off the disabled list. He allowed four hits, including a pair of solo homers.
“I felt in control, throwing a bunch of strikes,” said Eaton, who threw 56 of 77 pitches for strikes. “I had a few mistakes here and there, but I felt good.”
Adam Jones hit his first career homer on a 0-2 pitch in the third after Eaton had retired the first eight batters. Ben Broussard snapped a 0-for-13 streak with his 15th homer in the fifth, putting the Mariners up 2-0.
Eaton began the season on the disabled list after surgery to repair a torn tendon in the middle finger of his pitching hand. On Sunday at Los Angeles, Eaton was ejected when, right after allowing a three-run homer to Garret Anderson, he threw a pitch behind Juan Rivera.
Eaton said he was fined by Major League Baseball for that incident, but didn’t yet know the amount. There will not be any kind of suspension.
The Rangers and Mariners started their four-game weekend series tied at the bottom of the division, but still well in postseason contention. Seattle is only six games behind West-leading Oakland. Texas is five games back.
“We are a group that knows what we are capable of, and if we put it all together, we can be very good,” Young said.