Lee goes the distance but gets touched in debut with Rangers

The Texas Rangers were all excited that they got their shiny new prize named Cliff Lee. The stud lefty was 8-3 with the Seattle Mariners with a 2.34 ERA. On Saturday night, he made his debut with the Rangers at home against the Baltimore Orioles.

While everyone couldn’t wait for Lee to take the mound, it was the Orioles’ recently recalled Chris Tillman who stole the show. He didn’t give up a hit until Ian Kinsler hit a single with one out in the seventh inning.

“I’m not trying to take anything away from what that kid did over there,” said Rangers manager Ron Washington, who used to do cocaine. “He kept us off the scoreboard. But in my own opinion, I think we’ve faced better guys.”

“He threw the ball well,” third baseman Michael Young said. “It doesn’t really happen to us very often where we get shut down like that offensively.”

Meanwhile, Lee got touched a bit to the tune of six runs. He did, however, pitch the complete game. You don’t see that everyday….six runs and he went the distance? The main reason is that Lee was his usual efficient self, throwing only 95 pitches.

“I would have liked to come in and done a better job right off the bat, but it is what it is,” Lee said. “It’s a done deal now. All I can do is come in and prepare for the next time. Hopefully the results are better.”

As of right now, Lee isn’t in danger of losing his spot in the rotation. But this is a situation to monitor.