For the second-straight night, the Arizona Diamondbacks' bats were silent, as the team fell again to what may be the best team in baseball, the Texas Rangers. On Monday night, they lost 9-1, with their sole run coming on an eighth-inning solo homer by Miguel Montero. On Tuesday night, they couldn't even get one run, losing a heartbreaker 1-0, wasting another stellar pitching outing by Wade Miley.
Miley went a very strong 7.2 innings, giving up only one run on three hits and striking out a career-high eight Rangers, who are known for their vaunted offense. Miley had given up only two singles through seven innings, but in the eighth, he walked the lead-off hitter, who then moved to second base on a sacrifice. Then Miley struck out big bopper Nelson Cruz. The ninth batter, Chris Gentry, in the Rangers' lineup then hit a hard grounder to third that wound up bouncing over Ryan Roberts' head and into left field for an RBI single.
Rangers starter Matt Harrison was nearly every bit as good as Miley in this pitchers' duel. He went 7.1 scoreless innings on six D-Backs hits. He was pulled in the eighth after Willie Bloomquist hit a one-out double, the D-Backs' best chance to score all night. Mike Adams relieved Harrison and got the job done, including striking out Justin Upton to end the threat. Joe Nathan pitched a perfect ninth to close out the D-Backs.
The D-Backs and Rangers will finish out the series in Arlington this afternoon at 5:05. For the D-Backs, Daniel Hudson will take the mound with a 2-1 record with a 6.06 earned-run average. PItching for the Rangers will be Scott Feldman, who is 0-5 with a terrible 6.39 ERA. It could be a slugfest. TV: Fox Sports Arizona. Radio: KTAR 620 AM. For info, www.dbacks.com.
