Elvis Andrus, Ian Kinsler Provide Heroics in Texas Rangers’ Game 2 World Series Win
The Texas Rangers were simply stifled by the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 2 of the World Series until two unlikely heroes stepped up in crunch time. Offensive and defensively, this dynamic duo made incredible consecutive plays when Texas needed them the most. The Rangers owe their series-tying win to shortstop Elvis Andrus and second baseman Ian Kinsler.
An excellent pitching night from the Rangers’ Colby Lewis and the Cardinals’ Jaime Garcia kept the game scoreless through seven innings. That was made possible by back-to-back, inning-ending plays from Andrus and Kinsler in the fourth and fifth.
Andrus twice made athletic, diving stops on grounders and made fancy flips to Kinsler, who turned the first one for a double play in the fourth and barely tagged the bag for a force out in the second with two on and two out.
Then the Cardinals put one run on the board in the bottom of the eighth and things looked bleak for Texas as the Rangers’ bats had been cold all night. Then Kinsler and Andrus both connected on consecutive crucial hits in the top of the ninth to bring Rangers left fielder Josh Hamilton and first baseman Michael Young to the plate. Hamilton flew out to score Kinsler and tie the game followed by the exact same scenario from Young and Andrus to take the lead.
The Rangers desperately needed some big plays from their role players in this game and Andrus and Kinsler provided just that. From their excellent chemistry on the back-to-back defensive stops to their clutch hitting to win the game in the ninth, Andrus and Kinsler showed why Texas is such a great all-around team. A tied series heading back to Texas could mean a big win for the Rangers in Game 3 of this year’s Fall Classic.
Contact Jeric Griffin at or on Twitter @JericGriffin
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[...] the bottom of the eighth, once again putting Washington’s late-game decision-making in question. Then two unlikely Rangers heroes saved the day in the top of the ninth before Texas closer Neftali Feliz put the game away in the final [...]
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