The Rangers are 26-26
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The seesaw of .500 continues, with a win getting the Rangers back that mark once again. Some notes from the game:
The offense came through in a big way tonight. The scoring started on a 2-run error in the top of the 1st inning, and continued with every starter except for Elvis Andrus getting a hit on the night.
Speaking of Elvis, he was lifted late in the game after being hit by a pitch in the leg in the 5th inning. It remains to be seen if it was cautionary or if there’s a bigger concern at hand. It would be quite disheartening if he sustained an injury on the play.
The bulk of the offensive output on the evening came in a seven-run 5th inning, capitalized by a mammoth home run by Ronald Guzman.
Jesse Chavez was the opener today, and worked a scoreless 1st inning while only allowing a hit.
Adrian Sampson took over for the next five innings, but then was unable to record an out in the 7th as Mallex Smith — who has apparently inherited Kyle Seager’s Rangers-killing gene — singled. Jeffrey Springs came in and was able to close out the inning with no further damage.
Springs ended up allowing another run in the bottom of the 8th inning, but with the Rangers having scored 11 runs, it was of no real consequence,
I had a piece up about Rougned Odor today, so naturally he went out and hit the ball hard in his first plate appearance, lacing a double to right field that might have been a home run in Arlington. It was his only hit of the night, and didn’t do a lot in the way of pointing toward a turnaround. Alas, it’s only one game, small sample sizes, all the applicable qualifiers.
Hunter Pence continues to impress. 2 hits, 2 walks, and a solid outfield game highlighted by the catch you see in the GIF above. It’s nice to be wrong like this.
Shelby Miller worked a clean 9th inning, and the Rangers got an 11-4 win. They’ll have a chance to win the series tomorrow.