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Texas Rangers at Houston Astros, Minute Maid Park, Houston, TX
June 14, 2002

Introduction

My series on random games comes to the 21st century and, for the first time, brings us to a regular-season inter-league matchup, this one between the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros, a decade before the Astros changed leagues and became division mates of the Rangers.

Entering play on June 14, 2002, the Rangers and Astros were each in fourth place in their divisions, the AL West and NL Central, respectively, with records of 26-38 and 28-36, respectively. For the Rangers, fourth place meant last place. For the Astros, there were two teams behind them in the six-team NL Central (this imbalance is what led to the Astros changing divisions a decade later).

The starting pitcher for the Texas Rangers was Dave Burba, who entered play with a record of 2-4 with a 5.28 ERA. Opposing him for the Astros was Tim Redding, who had a record of 3-3 with a 4.91 ERA.

First Inning

Ryan Ludwick opened the game with a double to deep left field. The next two batters for the Rangers were a past and future MVP named Rodriguez. Reddick retired them both, but Ludwick advanced to third base on Ivan Rodriguez's sacrifice bunt and Ludwick scored on Alex Rodriguez's groundout to short. The Rangers also batted a former MVP cleanup. Between them, Juan Gonzalez and the two Rodriguezes won six MVP awards between 1996 and 2007, including four as members of the Texas Rangers. Gonzalez struck out to end the first inning, giving the Rangers' MVP trio an 0-for-3. But with one RBI and the Rangers led 1-0.

The Astros had their own "Big 3" to match the Rangers' three MVPs. And they also batted 2-3-4. Julio Lugo flew out to center field, bringing up the "Killer B's". Future Hall-of-Famer Craig Biggio doubled to left-center field. But Lance Berkman popped out to second base and former MVP and future Hall-of-Famer Jeff Bagwell lined out to right field to end the inning.

Second Inning

The Rangers came to bat in the second inning with a 1-0 lead. They wasted no time making it 2-0 as Herb Perry led off with a home run to right field. Redding retired the next two batters but Michael Young made the score 3-0 with a two-out solo home run.

The next batter was starting pitcher Dave Burba. Since the Rangers were in the American League, Burba had yet to bat in 2002. He made his first at bat of the 2002 season count with a ground ball single to right field. But Ludwick struck out to end the inning. But not before the Rangers had extended their lead to 3-0.

Burba got two quick outs and seemed poised for a 1-2-3 inning when Brian Hunter hit a ground ball to third baseman Perry. But Perry made a bad throw, allowing Hunter to reach base safely. The error seemed to rattle Burba a bit as he threw a wild pitch and then walked Gregg Zaun. But the pitcher's spot was due next and Burba struck out Redding to end the inning with no damage done. End of two, 3-0 Rangers.

Third Inning

The first three hitters for the Rangers in the top of the third were their three MVPs. Pudge Rodriguez lined a single to center field. Alex Rodriguez struck out, but Ivan stole second on the play. Juan Gonzalez flew out to right field, with Rodriguez taking third base on the play. And from there, I-Rod scored easily on Herb Perry's line drive single to right-center field. Mike Lamb doubled to put runners on second and third.

And so ended Tim Redding's night. The Astros new pitcher was Nelson Cruz (not the Nelson Cruz you're probably thinking of - this one's major-league career ended in 2003, two seasons before the more recent Nelson Cruz's career began). This Nelson Cruz struck out Kevin Mench and the Rangers lead was held to 4-0.

Julio Lugo grounded out leading off the bottom of the third inning and bringing up the Killer B's. Biggio singled. Berkman lined out for the second out. But Bagwell singled. No more "B's" but Richard Hidalgo doubled, scoring Biggio and Bagwell, to cut the Rangers lead in half. Jose Vizcaino followed with a single to right field, but Hidalgo was nailed at the plate on a perfect throw from Gonzalez to end the inning and preserve the Rangers lead at 4-2.

Fourth Inning

Michael Young led off the fourth inning with a single. Burba tried to sacrifice but bunted a two-strike pitch foul for strike three. Ludwick singled Young to second. But the Rodriguezes struck out and hit into a force play to end the inning.

Brian Hunter led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a double. Burba retired the next three batters, but Hunter got to third base on Zaun's groundout to short and scored on Cruz's groundout to the same fielder and the Rangers lead was cut to 4-3.

Fifth Inning

Nelson Cruz came out for this second full inning and it was his best yet: a comebacker to the mound and a pair of strikeouts for the first 1-2-3 inning of the game.

After falling behind 4-0 through 2-1/2 innings, the Astros had chipped away with three runs in their previous two innings and entered the bottom of the fifth inning down by only one run. Even better, they had the Killer B's leading off the inning.

And the Killer B's did their job: Biggio singled, Berkman walked, and Bagwell singled, loading the bases with nobody out and ending Dave Burba's night.

The new pitcher was Jay Powell. Richard Hidalgo hit a ground ball to third base and Herb Perry started a 5-4-3 double play. It was something of a mixed blessing for both teams. It killed the Astros rally but Biggio scored the tying run. Vizcaino grounded out for the third out and the game moved to the sixth inning tied at four.

Sixth Inning

Cruz came out to start his third full inning. So far, his performance had been nearly impeccable: nine batters faced, seven outs, five via strikeout, only two harmless singles.

The sixth inning started well as Kevin Mench popped out. But Michael Young singled to center field - his third hit in as many at bats. That brought up pinch hitter Gabe Kapler, which prompted a pitching change. The new Rangers pitcher was Ricky Stone.

Kapler hit a line drive right to shortstop Julio Lugo. But Lugo dropped the ball, putting runners on first and second with one out.

And then all hell broke loose:

• Ryan Ludwick beat out an infield hit to load the bases.
• Ivan Rodriguez grounded out for the second out of the inning, Young scoring.
• Alex Rodriguez walked to re-load the bases.
• Gonzalez singled to left field, scoring Kapler and Ludwick.
• Perry singled to right field, scoring A-Rod and sending Gonzalez to third base.
• Mike Lamb grounded out to Biggio to end the inning.

Four runs - all unearned - on five hits, one walk, and one very costly error. And the Astros had matched their largest lead of the game, this time by a score of 8-4.

The Rangers' new pitcher was Francisco Cordero. He began and ended his first inning of work with a strikeout, a two-out infield single by Geoff Blum being the only blemish on the inning.

Seventh Inning

The Astros opened the seventh inning with their fourth pitcher of the game, Brandon Puffer. The Rangers went to work on Puffer to extend their lead with back-to-back singles by Kevin Mench and Michael Young. But Cordero struck out on a bunt foul, Ryan Ludwick fouled out, and Pudge Rodriguez flew out to center field.

Cordero's second inning of relief was better than his first: he retired the Killer B's in order, including a strikeout of Berkman.

Eighth Inning

Puffer pitched a solid top of the eighth, a one-out walk to Juan Gonzalez being followed by a 6-3 GDP by Perry.

Hidalgo led off the bottom of the eighth with a single and Juan Alvarez replaced Cordero. Alvarez struck out pinch-hitter Daryle Ward. But Brian Hunter walked and John Rocker replaced Alvarez. Rocker got both Zaun and Blum to fly out to center field and the game moved to the ninth inning with the Rangers leading 8-4.

Ninth Inning

The new Astros pitcher was Jim Mann. He got the first two batters no problem. But like his predecessors, he couldn't get Michael Young, who got his 5th hit in as many at bats, his second home run, to stretch the Rangers' lead to 9-4. Mann retired pinch hitter Todd Greene on a ground out and the game moved to the bottom of the ninth.

The Rangers' new pitcher was Anthony Telford. He started out strong, striking out Julio Lugo. Biggio followed by beating out an infield hit, his fourth hit of the game. But Berkman struck out for the second out (with Biggio taking second base uncontested).

But then, things started to happen. Jeff Bagwell drove in Biggio with a line drive double to left field. Richard Hidalgo scored Bagwell with a single to center field. And suddenly the Astros had cut the Rangers lead to 9-6 with the tying run on deck.

This brought out the Rangers' seventh pitcher of the night, Randy Flores, to face pinch hitter Orlando Merced. Flores's first pitch was a ball. Ivan Rodriguez didn't return the ball to Flores, though. Instead, he snapped off a throw to first baseman Jeff Bagwell, who tagged Hidalgo to end the game. One pitch, one save (the first of his career): not a bad night's work for Flores.

Game Summary

And so the Rangers held on for a 9-6 victory. Unfortunately, this did not signal a big turaround for the Rangers who finished the season in the same spot they entered play this day, in last place in the AL West. The Astros, on the other hand, did turn things around, finishing the season in second place with a record of 84-78.

Details of the game are shown below. First, I show Player won-lost records for all of the players who participated in the game. Baseball Player won-lost records are constructed so that the players on the winning team earn two pWins and one pLoss in the game while the players on the losing team earn one pWin and two pLosses. I also show expected wins and losses, eWins and eLosses, which are context-neutral. Full play by play details of the game are shown below the won-lost tables. My Player won-lost records are described in more detail in this article and throughout my website.

Retrosheet Box Score and Play-by-Play