Matt Harrison needed a good start on Sunday for a couple of reasons — the Texas Rangers didn't need to lose a series to the Toronto Blue Jays, home or away, and with the Los Angeles Angels sputtering the Rangers needed to take advantage and pick up another game on their biggest rivals in the AL West.
Both missions were accomplished as Harrison not only had a great outing but was ridiculously efficient, going eight innings while allowing just two hits and a walk on only 90 pitches.
The outing marked the second straight solid one for Harrison, who went 6 1/3 innings while allowing just one run in a tough-luck loss to the New York Yankees last week.
Harrison's efficient, quick outing also helped spark the Rangers' bats as they put up 11 runs on 19 hits in Sunday's game, recovering from a brief run of offensive slumber.
"We really fed off of [Harrison] today," Michael Young said. "Usually when you have a good offensive performance you feed off the starting pitcher."
Harrison is making his case — and has been all season — that he is the Rangers' best starter this season and on Sunday he tied his career-high of 14 wins and watched his ERA dip to 3.19. With the postseason rapidly approaching he's making a strong case as the Rangers' No. 1 starter come playoff time.
