In Tuesday night's walkoff win by the Texas Rangers, newly acquired leadoff man Shin-Soo Choo scored both the tying and winning runs.
In Wednesday night's walkoff, it was Choo who was standing at the plate when the game's final pitch was thrown — and he never swung the bat. Choo's bases-loaded walkoff walk from Philadelphia Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon saw Choo come back from being down in the count 1-2 and forcing Papelbon to finish him off. And the veteran closer couldn't do it.
“I was trying to make contact, but looking for a pitch I could hit and [was sitting on a fastball],” Choo told ESPN Dallas. “He threw his best pitch at 2-2. That was the same one I missed earlier [a splitter] and I took it. That put the pressure on him.”
Choo led all leadoff hitters in walks last season, and already this year he's showing why the Rangers made such a large financial commitment to him this winter. For the first in seemingly forever, it seems the club finally has a true leadoff hitter who will see pitches (he saw 23 on Wednesday night).
