With thunderstorms covering up the night skies, the Rangers and White Sox were forced to sit through three seperate rain delays.
Down 1-0 in the bottom of the third, Hank Blalock (perhaps taking a cue from Rangers play-by-play announcer Tom Grieve who correctly predicted the outcome) clubbed his 7th homer of the season, a 3-run shot into the bullpen that gave Texas a 3-1 lead.
Texas then came back in the bottom of the fourth and put another six run on the board, thanks to key doubles by David Murphy (who continues to hit his way out of a slump), Nelson Cruz and Chris Davis. Ian Kinsler, Omar Vizquel, Hank Blalock and Marlon Byrd all added RBI hits in the inning as the Rangers built a 9-1 lead.
"It was a situation that we wanted to go out there and score as many runs as we can," Blalock said.
Play was halted once again as the rain began to fall, forcing everyone back into the dugouts.
When play resumed, so too did Brandon McCarthy's dominance of his former White Sox team. After all was said and done, McCarthy went five innings, allowing only one run, striking out three and retiring the final 12 batters he faced.
"I think I finally settled in and attacked the zone," McCarthy said. "I just let the ball go. I was just pitching for contact and attacking the zone."
Texas reliever Luis Mendoza allowed a grand slam homerun in the 6th to Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski but they were albel to get no closer, falling to Texas 9-6.
"That was a long one," third baseman Michael Young said. "It's good to get out of there with a win. When the game got tough with the rain delays, we had some relievers who had never been in that situation before."
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In the rubber match between the Rangers and Sox, Matt Harrison turned in his 2nd consecutive quality start, giving Texas five innings of shutout baseball and picking up his 2nd win of the season.
"He made pitches when he had to make pitches," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "Give them credit. They made him work. He only gave us five innings, but they were five pretty good innings."
Harrison was spotted a lead early as Ian Kinsler lead the game off with his 9th homerun of the season.
"I'm not trying to hit a home run in my first at-bat," Kinsler said. "I'm trying to drive the ball every single at-bat. I like doing that, though. Hitting one out of the ballpark in the first at-bat takes some air out of the other team and helps your starting pitcher relax, knowing he already has a 1-0 lead."
Kinsler added a RBI single later in the game and is now hitting .337 on the season.
Michael Young broke out of a mini-slump, adding an RBI single of his own. Nelson Cruz had a three hit night and Elvis Andrus added 2 base hits and sacrifice. This was the fisrt night Andrus hit in the no. 2 spot in the batting order.
"I like it," Andrus said. "All my career I have been hitting second. I feel comfortable there and we got the win."
The win over Chicago had to be particularly sweet considering the pitcher they defeated: former Rangers top prospect John Danks. He he is now 1-2 with a 5.30 ERA in three career starts against the Rangers.
"It's always been just another start," said Danks, traded to the White Sox after the 2006 season. "I have more at stake than worrying about what these guys are doing or thinking or trying to impress someone. I have my own career to worry about. I really don't care what these guys think. I'm just going out there to try to give us a chance to win."
Texas pulls to 12-12 on the season and now heads to Seattle for a two game series with the Mariners.
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