Maybe Ron Washington just wanted Texas Rangers closer Joakim Soria to get some work in, but not too much work?
That sure seemed to be the case on Tuesday night in an 8-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers — a game that was tied 1-1 going into the seventh inning until things blew up on the Lewis and the Rangers' bullpen, as Ben Rowen allowed two runs and three hits in 1/3 of an inning. That's when the carousel began in a 6-1 game. Shawn Tolleson pitched an inning. Then Aaron Poreda got one out while allowed two more runs on four hits — an even worse outing than Rowen's.
That's when Washington went to Soria to start the ninth inning, trailing 8-1. That, in itself, wasn't too odd, given that Washington just wanted Soria to get some work. What happened next was mind-boggling. After Soria got two outs on eight pitches, including a strikeout, Washington came out and got Soria to go to long-relief man Scott Baker with two outs in the ninth of a blowout loss.
Baker got the last out, but it was just a strange turn of events on a pretty strange night.
