Thoughts on a 4-2 Rangers win

Rangers 4, Angels 2

• Believe it or not, there were Rangers fans who complained this offseason about the Rangers bringing back Colby Lewis.  I think a few of them might even be folks who comment on LSB.
• Colby's success is predicated on his command and his slider, and both were great today.  Colby threw 70 strikes in 103 pitches, walked just one batter -- Mike Trout in the first inning -- allowed 5 hits and struck out 9 batters.  He allowed one run on a Trout homer off of a high fastball on a 1-2 pitch in the 4th, and another run scored when Keone Kela gave up a single to Trout after Lewis left the game in the 8th with two on and two outs.
• Saying that Lewis gave up 5 hits in 7.2 IP understates how good he was tonight.  The other hits he allowed were a bunt single by someone named Kubitza, an infield single on a ball chopped off the plate by Daniel Robertson, an infield single by Johnny Giavotella, and a bloop single by Kole Calhoun.  Colby was as good today as he's been since he went down in mid-2012 because of his tendon flexor problem.
• Lewis now has a 4.49 ERA on the season.  It feels like he's pitched better than that this year, but he has had a couple of disaster outings that have blown up his ERA.
• The Rangers picked up their first three runs in the top of the fifth.  A Josh Hamilton double was followed up by an Elvis Andrus bloop single that left runners at first and third, and Angel starter Nick Tropeano was very concerned with Elvis running, throwing to first multiple times (almost getting Elvis once or twice), and also pitching out once.  Finally, Tropeano threw over low, C.J. Cron couldn't pick the throw, and Hamilton scored on the throwing error, with Elvis going to third.  A Shin-Soo Choo double brought Elvis home, and Choo scored on a Robinson Chirinos single to center.
• The fourth run came across in the seventh, when Hamilton and Elvis singled back to back, Choo hit into a fielder's choice, and then Chirinos squeezed Hamilton home to give Texas a 4-1 lead.
• That was a nice, crisp game today, and it was great seeing peak Colby back, if only for a game.  That was fun baseball tonight.