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Well this sure was a game between two teams with 28 wins in 85 games combined.
The Rangers led 2-0 until there were two outs in the bottom of the eighth then this happened:
Double
Passed ball
Error
Intentional walk
Walk
Walk
Single
Just like that it was 4-2 White Sox as Texas came unglued once again. Worse yet, Delino DeShields’ mom was there to see the whole thing.
Player of the Game: Doug Fister was really good tonight. Seven innings of shutout baseball on six hits, zero walks, and four strikeouts to drop his ERA on the season to a healthy 3.43.
With Texas already getting dominated by Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello a few times, and Max Scherzer becoming the gold standard of the National League, it got me thinking about that 2011 Detroit Tigers rotation that the Rangers beat in the ALCS.
The starting pitchers for Detroit in the 2011 ALCS (Verlander/Scherzer/Fister/Porcello) are a combined 18-8 with an ERA of 2.23 in 229 2/3 innings combined this season. Kind of crazy that the Rangers beat them rather easily. That 2011 Rangers team was really good. :-/
— Christopher Fittz (@apoplecticfittz) May 18, 2018
You could make some easy to win arguments that Verlander and Scherzer are the best pitchers in their respective leagues so far this year and that 2011 Rangers team beat those two greats three times in four games in about a week.
Perhaps the best starter in that series for Detroit? Doug Fister.
Up Next: The Rangers and White Sox play the second game of this series with the dreaded TBA scheduled to pitch for Texas against RHP Carson Fulmer of Chicago. The game will get underway from Guaranteed Rate Field beginning at 7:10 pm CT.