The Rangers Are 0-1

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Well, book it. The Texas Rangers will go 0-162 this season.

  • OK, no they almost certainly won't, barring another record-setting season in a fashion none of us want to see.
     
  • Early on, Yu Darvish was a mixed bag. He came out in the first inning with strong offerings, but an odd four-pitch walk to Francisco Lindor left many fans on Twitter questioning the pitch selection as all four pitches were below the strike zone.
     
  • He got out of that inning with strikeouts of Michael Brantley and Edwin Encarnacion. Darvish ended up giving up four walks on only four strikeouts in what turned out to be a less-than-normal start for the Texas ace.
     
  • As for the offense, Rougned Odor belted two home runs that accounted for four of the five Texas runs. The other came courtesy of a Carlos Gomez bomb that landed in the second deck of the left field porch.
     
  • Other than that, the stats would seem to indicate that the Rangers bats were cold. Elvis Andrus and Nomar Mazara each had a double, Andrus later added a triple, but not much else to speak of. However, there were many hard-hit balls against Corey Kluber that simply went straight to Cleveland infielders. The results weren't there, but the process was sound. Those sort of things average out over a 162-game season.
     
  • Speaking of process, Joey Gallo had some solid plate appearances on the night. He had an 8-pitch strikeout in the third inning, a nine-pitch walk in the sixth inning, and another 8-pitch strikeout in the ninth inning. Again, the results weren't there, but the approach appeared to be mostly sound, and could bode well for things to come should he stick with it.
     
  • The bullpen was the focus of the night, at least to me. Matt Bush came into the game to relieve Darvish in the seventh, and ended up pitching the eighth as well. He gave up one hit, a home run to Rangers nemesis Edwin Encarnacion, and the game was tied.
     
  • Heading into the ninth, Jeff Banister handed the ball to Sam Dyson. After a solid showing at the WBC, expectations were high, but Dyson's sinker simply wasn't working, and his pitches ended up hanging high in the zone. The result? Four hits, three runs (all earned), and a loss.
     
  • For those that followed Sam Dyson's struggles in the second half of last season, tonight wasn't so much surprising as much as, well, that happens with Sam from time to time. No, he's not Andrew Miller. But he's not as awful as his current 40.50 ERA would suggest.
     
  • They'll do it all again tomorrow as Martin Perez takes the hill for Texas.