YOUNG GOES DEEP 3 TIMES AS RANGERS WHIP HALOS
3rd Player to Hit 3 HRs in As Many Days
ANAHEIM, Cal., July 2 (AP) - Michael Young hit three home runs and drove in six
as the Texas Rangers cruised past the Anaheim Angels, 7-2, at Edison
Field. Young is the third major leaguer in the last three days to hit
three long balls in a single contest. Ray Durham of the San Francisco
Giants and Shea Hillenbrand of the Arizona Diamondbacks both accomplished the
feat in separate games on June 30. The six runs batted in are a club high
for the season to date.
The Rangers gave starter Joaquin Benoit (3-3) a large lead to work with early in
the game. Young's first home run of the contest, his tenth of the season,
led off the contest and in the second inning the Rangers broke the game open
against Angels starter John Lackey (5-12). Kevin Mench led off the frame
with a single and, one out later, advanced to second when Ryan Ludwick drew a
walk. After Lackey fanned Donnie Sadler for the second out, Einar Diaz
drew a free pass, filling the bases. Young then drove Lackey's 2-2
offering into the bullpen in left field for a grand slam and a 5-0 Texas
lead. It was the fifth grand slam of the year for the Rangers as a club;
only the Toronto Blue Jays (6) have more. Hank Blalock followed with his
20th home run of the season and the Rangers held a 6-0 advantage after an inning
and-a-half.
The Angels edged closer with single runs in the third and fourth innings.
Bengie Molina's ninth home run of the year put Anaheim on the board in the third
and Garrett Anderson tripled and scored on Scott Spezio's sacrifice fly in the
fourth.
But that was as close as the Angels would get. Benoit retired all eight
batters he faced after Anderson's triple and was removed after six innings with
a 6-2 lead.
Scot Shields replaced Lackey with two outs in the fourth and tossed 3 1/3
innings of shutout relief to keep the Angels from falling any farther
behind. But the Rangers bullpen did its job. Ron Mahay, Francisco
Cordero and Ugueth Urbina allowed only one baserunner, and no runs, in three
combined innings of work.
The Rangers added a run to cap the scoring in the ninth with Young again doing
the honors. He led off the inning with his third home run of the game,
this time off reliever Francisco Rodriguez, becoming the seventh major league
player this season to go deep three times in a single contest.
7/2/2003, Tex03-Ana03, Edison Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Rangers 1 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 9 0 6 0 2003 Angels 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 0 2 2 Rangers AB R H BI AVG Angels AB R H BI AVG Young,M 2b 5 3 3 6 .264 DaVanon lf 4 0 0 0 .225 Blalock 3b 4 1 2 1 .370 Erstad cf 4 0 0 0 .250 Rodriguez,A ss 4 0 0 0 .335 Salmon rf 4 0 0 0 .329 Palmeiro,R dh 5 0 1 0 .241 Anderson,G dh 4 1 2 0 .289 Mench lf 2 1 1 0 .356 Spiezio 1b 2 0 0 1 .254 Glanville cf 0 0 0 0 .180 Glaus 3b 3 0 0 0 .253 Teixeira 1b 4 0 0 0 .263 Molina,B c 3 1 1 1 .246 Ludwick rf 3 1 0 0 .000 Kennedy,A 2b 2 0 0 0 .230 Sadler,D cf 4 0 0 0 .175 Figgins ph 1 0 0 0 .214 Diaz,E c 3 1 2 0 .286 Gil,B 2b 0 0 0 0 .183 34 7 9 7 Eckstein ss 3 0 1 0 .272 30 2 4 2 Rangers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Benoit W 3-3 6.0 3 2 2 0 5 92 58 5.66 Mahay H 1 1.2 1 0 0 0 1 18 12 0.00 Cordero,F 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 4 3 4.26 Urbina 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 12 8 2.10 9.0 4 2 2 0 8 126 81 Angels INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Lackey L 5-12 3.2 7 6 6 5 2 84 43 5.90 Shields 3.1 1 0 0 1 3 42 29 3.12 Rodriguez,Fr 2.0 1 1 1 0 2 28 19 4.39 9.0 9 7 7 6 7 154 91 Tex: Glanville inserted at cf in the 9th Sadler,D moved to lf in the 9th Ana: Figgins batted for Kennedy,A in the 8th Gil,B inserted at 2b in the 9th 3B-Anderson,G(2). HR-Young,M 3(12), Blalock(20), Molina,B(9). RBI-Young,M 6(34), Blalock(47), Spiezio(34), Molina,B(27). K-Young,M, Blalock 2, Rodriguez,A, Teixeira, Ludwick, Sadler,D, DaVanon 2, Erstad, Anderson,G 2, Glaus, Kennedy,A, Eckstein. BB-Blalock, Rodriguez,A, Mench 2, Ludwick, Diaz,E. SF-Spiezio. WP-Lackey 2. GWRBI: Young,M Temperature: 77, Sky: clear, Wind: out to center at 22 MPH. Attendance: 27,128 Game Time: 2:50