Game 1 Recap
I have two words to describe this game, Brad Wilkerson. Coming off of a June where Wilkerson hit .179, and having not hit more than 3 homeruns in a month this season, Brad teed off against the Angels pitching slamming a whopping 3 homeruns and driving in 6 of the Rangers 8 runs in the game. He has not hit more homeruns this month (4) than in any other single month this season.
The Angels took an early 2-0 lead against Kevin Millwood in the 2nd inning, but Kevin stepped it up and dominted the Angels over the next 6 innings and finished having allowed just those 2 runs on only 5 hits over 8 innings of work to lower his ERA to 6.54.
The Rangers got the rally going in the 4th against Ervin Santana thanks to a 3-run homerun from Brad Wilkerson, his first of 3, to give Texas a 3-2 lead. Wilkerson then homered again in the 6th, also against Santana, to put the Rangers up 5-2. His 3rd blast of the game came in the 7th inning off reliever Chris Bootcheck. The Rangers scored 3 runs in the inning taking an 8-2 lead. The Angels only managed to score 1 more run, that coming in the 9th inning off of Frankie Francisco, and the Rangers went on to win the series opener 8-3.