Thoughts on an 8-2 win

Rangers 8, Royals 2

• Colby Lewis came up big once again for the Rangers, pitching 7 innings, allowing just 3 hits and one runs, striking out 5 and walking 2.  He's lowered his ERA on the season to 2.40 and, if you are one of those who likens ERA to pitcher wins, he's got a 3.30 FIP on the year.  Since the All Star Break last season, Lewis has a 3.36 ERA in 131.1 IP.  This is a guy who has, over the course of his career, had Tommy John surgery, rotator cuff surgery, tendon flexor surgery, and a hip procedure which no pitcher had ever come back from.  He's the $6 Million Dollar Man, come to life and pitching for the Rangers.
• The one time Lewis got into trouble, Leonys Martin bailed him out.  Colby had runners on second and third and two outs in the top of the fourth when Kendrys Morales hit a line drive single to center field.  Mike Moustakas tried to score from second, but Leonys made one of his Classic Leonys rocket throws home, and Moustakas was out by a comfortable margin.  Lewis had retired the first nine batters he faced coming into the fourth, and wasn't really in trouble again until the seventh, when he got a double play ball to escape from a two on, one out situation.
• Keone Kela did his thing, allowing a couple of hits, striking out a couple of batters, getting five swinging strikes on 17 pitches, and allowing a run, which moved his ERA to 2.25.  Alex Claudio pitched a scoreless 9th to end the game.
• The Rangers only had nine hits, but they made them count, with two of them being doubles and three being homers, and they added eight walks as well.  A four run second gave them a comfortable lead early, and two more in the fourth resulted in things largely going into cruise control mode from that point.
• Kyle Blanks didn't have a hit yesterday, but he hit a pair of towering, deep fly balls to left field that looked, off the bat, like they were going out, only to die at the wall.  A lot of the problem was simply that Blanks got under them, and they went too high, but it was also a reminder that TBiA isn't really the hitter's paradise it once was.
• Prince Fielder and Adrian Beltre each had a single and a homer, with Beltre's homer being his 399th all-time, tying him with Andres Galarraga and Al Kaline for 52nd all time.  Among active players, only Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, and David Ortiz have more.
• Thomas Field, just called up yesterday, had the third Ranger homer, his first of his career.  And the much-maligned (by me, anyway) Delino DeShields, Jr., had a big RBI double that keyed the early rally.
• Winning is fun, you guys.  I miss winning.