Rangers Even Series With Game 4 Win

Just one night after St. Louis' Albert Pujols and his offense was the big story, last night belonged to Texas' Derek Holland and his pitching. Holland threw eight and a third scoreless innings before being relieved in the ninth on the way to a 4-0 Rangers win, evening the series at two games a piece. Game 5 is tonight at 6:05 MT on Fox.

You can never predict what the kid might do, that’s for sure. On Sunday night, after three straight sub-par postseason starts, Holland came within two outs of pitching the first shutout by an American League pitcher in the World Series since Jack Morris’ legendary 10-inning performance in Game 7 of the 1991 classic.

Washington lifted Holland after a walk to Cardinals leadoff man Rafael Furcal, summoning closer Neftali Feliz. Holland had insisted he could get a game-ending double play, but with Albert Pujols on deck, Washington wasn’t taking any chances.

“He was like, ‘No, you ain’t going in there, son,’” Holland recalled, imitating Washington. “And I was like, ‘OK.’ And then typically he gave that nice little, ‘Ha, ha, ha!’ That nice little laugh he always does.”

At least when the Rangers are winning.

The night began with Washington putting his hands on Holland’s shoulders, lecturing him about pitching inside and slapping him on the cheek in the dugout.

It ended with Holland having allowed the Cardinals just two hits and two walks in 8 1/3 innings, and the Series tied at two games each.

There was no way to see this coming, except that Holland pitched four shutouts during the regular season, second only to Philadelphia's Cliff Lee, who had six.

[foxsports.com]