Isn't winning fun?

• A.J. Griffin took the mound tonight, and immediately put his defense to the test. By defense, I mean Carlos Gomez. In the top of the first inning, Gomez recorded all three outs in center field, one a ball that he tracked to the wall and saved from being what looked as if it would have otherwise been a home run. Way to go, Carlos.
   
• In the bottom of the first, Gomez became a catalyst for the offense. He led off with a double, advanced to third on a Shin-Soo Choo groundout, and then on a weird play in which Nomar Mazara hit the ball to first base, bolted for home on contact. He slid around the tag at home, getting his hand on the plate and giving Texas a 1-0 lead. Also, it was ruled that Yonder Alonso hadn't touched first base, so Mazara was ruled safe.
   
• Rougned Odor continued his powerful start to the season, belting his third long ball of the season and putting Texas up 3-0 heading into the second inning.
   
• Griffin had a painless second inning, holding the 3-0 lead he was given. In the bottom half of the second, Joey Gallo led off with a walk and advanced on a groundout by Elvis Andrus. Jurickson Profar walked, and then Gomez was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Choo.
   
• Choo singled on a hard-hit ball to center field, making it 4-0 Texas. Then, Mazara provided the highlight play of the game, hitting a grand slam to straightaway center field and making it 8-0 Texas.
   
• At that point, it was thought that the Rangers could coast to the finish line. Of course, if you've watched the first three games of the season, you probably didn't yet feel comfortable. Griffin gave up a three-run home run in the third, then a solo shot to Khris Davis in the fourth.
   
• In that fourth, Griffin attempted to keep an errant throw from bouncing out of the field of play and found himself on the ground. He appeared to have suffered some scraping on his pitching hand, and was promptly pulled from the game in favor of Alex Claudio. Griffin's final line was 3.1 IP, four hits, four runs (all earned), two walks, and two strikeouts. He wasn't exactly sharp, giving up a lot of hard contact, and even before the tumble near the camera well, he didn't appear to be long for this game. I tend to wonder if Mike Hauschild will get a shot sooner rather than later.
   
• In the bottom of the sixth, Elvis Andrus led off with a double of his own. Following that, Profar got ahead in the count 3-0, then ended up striking out in one of the poorest sequences of hitting I think I've seen so far in 2017.
   
• Carlos Gomez followed with an RBI double of his own, and Mazara singled on a ball to left field that was, quite possibly, a more impressive piece of hitting than his grand slam earlier in the game. The hit scored Gomez from second, making it 10-4.
   
• In the bottom of the eighth, Mazara hit another ball to left field. The Big Chill has easily been the most impressive part of the young season so far, and much of that has been due to his plate coverage skills. After initial success followed by some struggles in his 2016 rookie campaign, it's a good bet that Nomar will end up being an important part of anything the Rangers do in 2017.
   
• Jose Leclerc came in to work the ninth inning. Stephen Vogt reached on a Rougned Odor error and later scored on a Yonder Alonso double. Marcus Semien then grounded out to end the game, with the Rangers winning 10-5.
   
• Not a bad first win of the season, at least as far as the offense was concerned. The starting pitching needs to be better, but will have a chance to begin righting the ship tomorrow evening as Yu Darvish takes the mound for the second game of the series.