Rangers Need 10 Innings to Beat Royals

In typical Rangers/Royals fashion, nine innings was not enough for the slugfest on Sunday, June 28. The West Carrollton breeze and roaring traffic played havoc on pop flies and communication, but the Rangers prevailed in the end 17-15 in 10 innings as Jake Kingsolver doubled in two runs with two outs for the deciding runs.

Matt Wenzler started for the Rangers, but control issues and misplayed flyballs shortened his outing to two innings before handing the ball over to Brad Clark. A lack of defensive help doomed Clark’s appearance as Brad left after 4 innings of work. Both Wenzler and Clark struck out four. Rookie Jonathan Silverman made his Rangers debut on the mound a memorable one. Silverman relieved Clark in the 7^th inning, tossing the final four frames for his first career MVABL win. Jonathan kept the Rangers in the game at the end allowing one hit while striking out three.

The Rangers jumped on the board first as Clint Wolf hit a two-run home run to right center, his fourth of the season. Brandon Howard doubled in two more in the inning for a quick 4-0 lead. The Royals answered with a three-spot in the bottom of the first on RBI singles by Mark Franklin and Jason Holmberg. Steve Marshall homered with two out in the second for a 5-3 Rangers lead. Steve’s 2 home runs this season doubles his career mark with the club. The Royals took a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the second. Chris Jergens had a two-run single and Kevin Reynolds drove in another. The Rangers took the lead back in the third, scoring four times for a 9-6 score. Jake Kingsolver and Shane Fallen had RBI hits and Brandon and Brad Clark recorded RBI doubles. Reynolds singled in a run for the Royals in the bottom of the third to cut the Rangers lead to 9-7. After Royals starter Chris Tipton held the Rangers scoreless in the fourth, the Royals batted around taking a 13-9 lead. Chris Jergens’ three-run home run highlighted the onslaught in the fourth. The Rangers answered with four runs in the fifth to tie the game at 13. Jelani Arnold’s bases-clearing double was the team’s 4000^th hit in franchise history. Clint Wolf followed that up with an RBI single.

The Royals decided to grab the lead back with two runs in the bottom of the sixth on a fielding error. The Rangers chipped away once more as Shawn Schmitt scored on a wild pitch in the seventh. The Rangers tied the game at 15 when Jake Kingsolver homered to straight away center with two outs in the top of the eighth. Jake’s third home run of the season gave him 30 career MVABL long balls. A scoreless ninth proved to be the only time all game that neither team could put a run across the board. The drama unfolded in the top of the 10^th as Steve was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Jelani laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move the runner over. Clint’s bloop single put runners on the corner with one out. After Royals reliever Tyler Allen struck out Jonmarc Lippincott, Kingsolver drilled a double over the left fielder for the game-winning runs.

Offensive highlights: Steve Marshall 3-for-5, 3 runs, HR, 2b, SB; Jelani Arnold 2-for-5, 3RBI, 2B; Clint Wolf 4-for-6, 3RBI, HR, SB; Jake Kingsolver 4-for-6, 3 runs, 4RBI, HR, 2b; Brandon Howard 2-for-6, 3RBI, 2 doubles; Brad Clark 2-for-5, RBI, 2b; Shane Fallen 2-for-5 RBI, SB.

Historical notes: Jelani Arnold needs 3 more runs scored to reach the 100 plateau, and he needs 6 more hits to reach 100 hits in the league. Clint scored his 200^th career MVABL run in the first inning and picked up his 250^th career MVABL hit in the 10^th inning. Clint’s HR ties him for third all-time with former Astros OF Pat Barrett at 26. Jonmarc struck out in his 1200^th career official at-bat. Jonmarc is 10 runs shy of 300 career in the MVABL. Jake Kingsolver moved into a tie for third place in league runs scored, trailing only Clint and Jonmarc all-time.