Holland shuts down Mariners
Friday, July 31, 2009 10:05 AM PDT
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Hanging over Derek Holland’s locker is a cartoon drawing of his headshot he got from a fan with the inscription: ‘‘New Legend of Lefty.’’
How fitting after the latest outing by the Texas Rangers rookie.
Holland allowed only two hits and struck out 10 while getting within one out of his first complete game to lead the Rangers to a 7-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night.
The 22-year-old Holland became the first Rangers rookie left-hander with 10 strikeouts, and the first Texas lefty since 1999 to reach that total.
Holland retired 24 of his first 25 batters, taking a one-hit shutout into the ninth before starting the final inning with his only walk.
The only hits he allowed were Jack Hannahan’s broken-bat single with two outs in the fifth and Franklin Gutierrez’s two-out single in the ninth on his 118th and final pitch.
When Gutierrez reached and Washington came out of the dugout, Holland started pleading his case to stay in the game. The manager had already made up his mind and, with a smile on his face, emphatically shook his head as he reached the mound.
‘‘It was just me begging out there, ‘Come on, let me get this one guy, I’ve got it,’’’ Holland said.
‘‘Wash was funny,’’ catcher Jarrod Saltalmacchia said.
Warner Madrigal, recalled earlier Thursday, gave up an RBI single to Jose Lopez and walked Mike Sweeney to load the bases before Chris Shelton flied out to end it.
Michael Young hit two of Texas’ five home runs, three of them off starter Garrett Olson (3-5). Hank Blalock, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Marlon Byrd also connected.
A night after the Rangers struck out 18 times against Detroit, they had 12 hits.
Still, this night belonged to Holland, the Rangers’ top pitching prospect who was called up two weeks into the season.
‘‘He was locating his sinker really well and his slider was deceptive,’’ Mariners catcher Rob Johnson said. ‘‘He was forcing us to be aggressive. It wasn’t one of those nights where you could afford to be patient and wait for your pitch because he was locating the ball.’’
