For Once, Bats Bail Out Pitcher

From the get-go on Wednesday, it seemed Texas Rangers starter Roy Oswalt might be in for a long night, and he was. Over his six innings of work, Oswalt allowed five runs on a career-high 13 hits. But it was an even longer night for Detroit Tigers starter Doug Fister, and the Rangers' bats saw to it that Oswalt became the first Rangers pitcher to ever pick up a win after allowing 13 hits.

For almost two months now, it seems the Rangers have been winning games on the mound and the team's starting pitchers have bailed out subpar performances from the bats with numerous guys slumping in a big way.

The Rangers did it in many different ways on Wednesday night in their 13-9 win over the Tigers. They manufactured runs. They had deep doubles in the gaps. They had pop-up doubles to second base. They had numerous home runs for seemingly the first time in, well, ever. They had it all. That's the Rangers offense we'd grown accustomed to seeing in April.

David Murphy homered two times off Fister, including a three-run blast that made the Tigers pay for an error. He finished the night with five RBIs. Leonys Martin continued his hot hitting with another triple, this one scoring two runs. And Ian Kinsler scored from second base on a sacrifice bunt-turned bunt base hit by Elvis Andrus.

Oswalt, who previously played for the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies, said he knew the potency of the Rangers lineup and was thankful to see it come to fruition after a so-so start on Wednesday.

“I played on some teams before that didn’t score a whole lot,” Oswalt told reporters. “Coming over here, I knew the lineup they had. You look at 1 through 9 and anybody can beat you with the long ball. Most of the guys hit all parts of the field and are not just pull hitters. I knew the American League was known for scoring a few runs, but to have a lineup like this with all these guys hitting is pretty dangerous.”

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