Phoenix, AZ (SportsNetwork.com) – Prince Fielder’s first home run of the
season capped a four-run eighth inning that helped the Texas Rangers to a 7-1
win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of a brief two-game
interleague series.
Chase Anderson dazzled in seven innings of one-run ball for Arizona, but he
gave way to Daniel Hudson (0-1) to start the eighth and things quickly
unraveled.
Jake Smolinski reached with one out when Cliff Pennington bobbled his grounder
to third, and Leonys Martin drew a walk. Elvis Andrus broke the 1-1 tie with
an RBI single to left.
A double steal then resulted in another run, as Tuffy Gosewisch’s throw to
third went into left field and Martin raced home. Fielder followed with a two-
run blast to right field.
Shawn Tolleson (1-0) retired the side in order in the eighth, and Martin
plated two insurance runs in the top of the ninth with a single to right
against Oliver Perez.
Anderson only allowed three hits in seven innings while striking out five.
Texas starter Nick Martinez was nearly as sharp, yielding a run on five hits
over six innings in the no-decision.
Anderson tossed one of the better games of his young career, but his outing
did not look promising after allowing a leadoff double to Martin in the top
of the first. Martin moved to third on a groundout and Fielder gave Texas an
early 1-0 lead with a ground-rule double to center.
The Rangers managed just one more hit — a fourth-inning Adrian Beltre single
— for the rest of his stint.
The D-backs tied it in the home second, when consecutive singles by Yasmany
Tomas and Gosewisch led to Nick Ahmed’s RBI groundout to third.
Game Notes
Arizona placed infielder Jake Lamb on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday and
selected the contract of infielder Danny Dorn from Triple-A Reno. It also
transferred catcher Gerald Laird from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day
DL … The D-backs had won three of four … Arizona went 1-for-6 with runners
in scoring position and left 10 on base.
