Rangers Blow 3-Run Lead In Loss To White Sox
CHICAGO (AP) - Matt Harrison felt bad about the pitch to Brent Morel. He felt even worse about the two walks earlier in the inning.
Harrison got too much of the plate on a fastball to Morel with two out in the fifth, and the White Sox third baseman hit the ball over the wall in left-center for a tying three-run homer in the Texas Rangers' 4-3 loss to Chicago on Tuesday night.
"Even though I made the mistake to Morel, if I make that mistake without the walks, 3-1 ballgame," Harrison said. "That was the whole key to the game. Two walks, two bad walks and made a mistake over the plate and it tied the game up. We had the momentum there and I let them back in the game."
Carlos Quentin began the White Sox eighth with a walk. He was erased on a fielder's choice but Alex Rios walked to put runners on first and second.
Harrison then struck out Gordon Beckham before Morel connected for his first homer of the season.
"We had Morel in the hole 1-2 and got a fastball up and didn't miss it," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "From that point on, it looked like the momentum changed and we couldn't get anything going."
Endy Chavez had two hits and reached four times for Texas, which has dropped eight of its last 11 road games. Michael Young singled in the eighth to extend his road hitting streak to a career-best 17 games.
"Tonight we just didn't get the big knock," Young said. "It's all right, we've been doing it the last week or so. We'll be all right."
Beckham sparked the winning rally with a leadoff walk in the eighth. Beckham made it all the way to third on pinch-hitter Dallas McPherson's one-out single and scored when Cody Eppley (1-1) bounced his first pitch to Alexei Ramirez.
"I just couldn't get my slider where I wanted it tonight," Eppley said. "It was staying out there all night."
McPherson was promoted when Mark Teahen went on the disabled list earlier in the day. The bouncer up the middle was his first hit since Sept. 10, 2008, for Florida at Philadelphia.
"It was nice to get that one out of the way," a grinning McPherson said.
Jesse Crain (1-1) pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings to get the win and Sergio Santos worked a perfect ninth for his sixth save in six chances.
The White Sox (18-25) were coming off a listless 4-0 loss to Colby Lewis and the Rangers on Monday night and had dropped 10 of their last 11 games at U.S. Cellular Field.
The Rangers, missing injured sluggers Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz, employed a patient approach as John Danks struggled to find the strike zone. They walked five times in the first four innings, with each playing a key role in their three runs.
Chavez walked and scored on Ian Kinsler's double-play grounder in the first. Mike Napoli, Yorvit Torrealba and Craig Gentry walked with two out in the second, and shortstop Ramirez misplayed Chavez's bouncer for a run-scoring error. David Murphy started the fourth with a walk and eventually came around to score on Torrealba's sacrifice fly.
Texas (22-20) entered the game with 124 walks, 11th in the American League.
Danks eventually settled down, working out of a jam in the fifth and retiring seven of his last nine batters. The left-hander matched a career high with six walks in all, but allowed just two earned runs and four hits over 6 1-3 innings.
"They didn't hit me very much because there wasn't many pitches to hit," Danks said. "I don't have a reason or I don't know why the first couple innings went the way they did. ... Like I said, I'm glad I was able to stay out of the way and let B-Mo and these guys do what they did."
Danks, who had dropped his previous five starts, remains winless in six decisions one year after he set a career high with 15 victories.
Harrison pitched seven effective innings, allowing three hits. He struck out six and walked four.
"It's definitely frustrating," Harrison said. "I felt good the whole game. The fact of the matter is I walked too many people tonight."
(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
