Last season, when Josh Hamilton was on his way to winning the AL MVP for the Texas Rangers despite missing the month of September, he hit a ridiculous .379 with runners in scoring position and two outs.
His teammate, who was playing for Boston last season, hit .320 in that same situation.
This year, however, they are hitting .278 and .275, respectively, and have failed in those situations in too many important moments this season.
But on Tuesday, they both came through in the seventh inning when the Rangers were trailing 2-1 in the seventh inning. The Rangers were 2-29 this season when trailing after six innings, but Hamilton and Beltre saw to it that they wouldn't drop to 2-30.
With Yorvit Torrealba on third base and two outs, Elvis Andrus drew a walk to bring up Hamilton with two runners on and a one-run deficit.
Hamilton sent a 3-1 pitch to left field to score Torrealba, and Andrus scored on a throwing error to third base to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead.
The next hitter, Beltre, had one of his patented "swing from the knees" doubles over the center fielder's head to the wall to bring Hamilton home.
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From then, the Rangers' bullpen got the job done in what was a big game for the Rangers in regards to clutch performances, both from the big bats in the lineup and from the bullpen.
