Rangers at Astros ⚾️ MLB on FOX!

Rangers at Astros ⚾️ MLB on FOX!

This thing is wide open in the American League. Yeah, as we mentioned, eight games remaining between the Rangers and the Astros as here comes From Valdez, the left-hander, the 31-year-old, his eighth year in the majors. Three career shutouts, nine complete games. Nobody’s thrown more innings than he has in the American League since 2020. No, he has been as dependable as there has been. You take a look at this will be his 19th start of the season. Sinker curveball change up. I mean, you basically as a hitter, you’re looking sinker and curveball. If he’s getting the sinker over for strikes, that’s going to help him a lot because then he can throw that curve ball out of the zone. He’s not getting that sinker over. He’s got to land the curveball. He can get into trouble with that. There’s a defense behind from Valdez. Jose Aluve is in left. A ninetime Allstar. Taylor Trmelll. Cam Smith. Is he Isach Parade going back to the All-Star game coming up on Tuesday. Dubon a former Gold Glover. Christian Walker. Outstanding over at first base. And in his second major league game, Bryce Matthews at second base. A local product with Yiner Diaz behind the plate for the Astros. They have had debuts galore with this Astros team. A bunch of their top prospects, he’s number one, but a bunch of their top prospects are here in the major because they have a a wheelbarrow full of injuries, both position player and pitcher. Well, their depth is really being tested. And as you mentioned, the injury bug, it bites everybody. The the 162 game season does not discriminate. It’s how you handle those things. Astros have done a great job up to this point and they hope to get stronger when these guys return. They have nine position players on the injured list. Nine. Am I going to feel sorry for them? I I don’t know. I was I was going to see if you were going to be empathetic. That is I I you know what’s funny? I I had a Hall of Fame manager once say that, you know, 70% of the people don’t care that you have a problem and the other 30% are glad that you do have the problem. Which one are you for the Astro? You’re a 70% guy last night. It’s good to hear. Uh the the Rangers offense, they’re they’re 24th in on base percentage, 25th in slugging for the entirety of the season, but July has propped them up in a big way. And and if you’re a Ranger fan, you’re like, “Yeah, this for the rest of the year.” Well, this is your hope. This is what you grab on to the the recency bias. And the reality is they’ve been swinging the bats well and if they can get any type of consistency, they’ll find themselves right in the thick of things. I’m gonna ask you this about both pitchers because again this could be two to one tonight. We’ll see. But two real aces on the mound. If you’re the Rangers, how are you attacking from? I’ve got to make him get the ball up in the zone and I will sit there and take until he gets it to waist level. And that first one is a change up for a strike to Sam Hagerty. 31-year-old outfielder, former 24th round pick 10 years ago on 01. It’s a ground ball to shortstop. Mauricio Duban. A high throw and a cartwheel safely. Handspring somersault cartwheel. It was gymnastic and he got there under the tag from Walker. Man, almost looked like he touches the base as he rolls over it. You take a look at this. He tries to avoid the tag. No, he touches it with his hand. That was really athletic by Hagerty just trying to evade the tag. Wow. And then have the presence of mind to basically stomp the bag with his hand and then go into a full barrel roll. So, it’s an E6 on Dubon to start the game. This will be intriguing because the Rangers are fifth in smallest ground ball rate in all of Major League Baseball. This is a team that can elevate the ball across the lineup against one of the best ground ball pitchers in America. Cory Seager left on left and the first pitch is a breaking ball. Ball one. a five-time all-star Cory Seager, whose brother Kyle was actually From Valdez’s first career strikeout back in 2018 in a game against the Mariners. That is a little bit up. Two balls, no strikes. Phil Cuz did not like it. So, two and 0 on Seagar. 61% third in Major League Baseball on ground ball rate on 200. Seager in the air left field. Altuve on the move and he makes the catch for route number one. So if you’re ahead, if you’re ahead 20, what do you try to wipe out of your mind and how are you attacking there? If you’re Cory, you’re trying to get the ball up in the zone. That one he got it up, but it was a sinker that just had great movement. Ran in on Cory’s hand. So you’ve got to push Frober away from you, especially if you’re a left-handed hitter. That sinker coming in. One on, one out, and a snap throw to first is wide. Hagerty darts back. Sam Hagerty is eight for 10 in stolen bases this year. So the threat is real for a Rangers team that’s fourth in baseball in total steals with 88 of them. That ball into right field is a knock for Simeon Hagerty for third and the Rangers have two on with just one out here in the first inning. Simeon gets a sinker right there and again he stays inside the ball, shoots it to right field. You see how that ball runs away? He goes with it. Hagerty never a doubt he’s got third base on his mind from the get-go. It is amazing that a hitter off that slow motion we saw can track the movement of that ball which looked like it was coming in toward him for a moment and then leaked away. Ball one to Adole Garcia. Free swinging former allstar in his own right. Garcia who’s hitting fewer ground balls this year than he ever has in his major league career. That’s a called strike. But see, that’s that pitch right there to the rightander. The sinker. You almost throw it at the right-hander’s hip. You freeze a little bit and then it works its way over the inner half of the plate. Inside out fist foul. One ball and two strikes. Garcia came into this series that’s with 11 home runs trying to get that power back. And Lance McCullers early in this ball game saw it on full display. Yeah, he went to dead center. It was an absolute blast. Garcia backto back home runs for only the second time all year. And you have to go back to the early part of the year for the last time you did it. I mean, we’ve seen the massive power in that bat over the years. Simeon on the run and it hits him. So, it’s a hit by pitch. Simeon was going to steal second. Instead, the bases are loaded with just one out on one ball and two strikes. Valdez hits Garcia. It’s a curveball and it gets the front foot which is really odd. Usually it’s the back foot, especially to a right-handed hitter from a left-handed pitcher, but Valdez just choked that off. How many times in your career did you get hit in your front foot by a curveball? I mean, I can’t even remember. Look at You’re asking me a question. I couldn’t even tell you how many times I got hit. I can’t even remember when I got I remember I got hit one time in the the face. That was Felix Rodriguez. But when you’re asking front foot, that’s a stumper right there. Of course, you’ll remember that one. But 31 hit by pitches in Eric Keros’s career. 31. Yeah, but you got tricky on me. You ask me about front foot. That’s a stumper. We’ll make him easier as the game goes on. Here’s Wyatt Langford who had four hits yesterday. And the first pitch bounced away. Hagerty sprinting home and he scores. One- nothing Texas just like that. What a read by Hagerty on a ball that did not get all that far away from Yanner Diaz. So he just went curve ball and he hits Garcia. Then he comes back with a change up and that thing bounces well in front of the plate. Hagerty does a great job. Two off speed pitches don’t even make it to home plate. He’s found himself in a lot of trouble. He gave up the hit to Simeon on one of those sinkers and he shied away from it since as there’s a curve ball dropped in for a strike to Langford. 23-year-old Wyatt Langford with the infield in. Swing and he went around. and Phil Kuzzy rings him up on a nasty curve ball. So that was similar to the curveball he threw to to Garcia. Maybe got another foot on it, but again a a pitch that can’t do anything as a hitter. That ball bounces. Langford can’t hold up. Chopper foul at first base. still one and two, but as you mentioned off the top of the show, the Astros are used to winning from Valdez starts and the offense has been somewhat challenged recently. They got swept by the Guardians here and then Texas with a win in game one yesterday. That’s a swing and a miss. And that is a dazzling sinker for strikeout number one for Frank Valdez tonight. Not much Langford can do in that situation. Valdez just pinpoints this pitch. It’s that sinker and it starts in off the plate. Pulls the trigger and just can’t get his hands through. So with two out, it’s up to Jonah and he takes inside ball one. I mean, you see the intricate movement of that sinker that has served from Valdez so well with the Astros. Back to the breaking ball. Two and0. Kind of an early theme so far with the right-handed hitters outside of that pitch, the sinker to Simeon that ran away from him and he shot for a base hit to right field. Valdez has been going hard inside. Whether it’s the sinker, whether it’s the curve ball. Right back in there off the glove of Diaz. Three balls, no strikes on him. Second and third, two out, three 0 count. If you get a sinker, you like, how you feel about it? I got to really like it. I mean, I I the only reason is there’s so much movement. We saw Seager earlier. He was a two- count, granted, from the left side, and he thought he saw a pitch that he could drive, and you know, it was in on the hands. With as erratic as Valdez has been so far, I think I got to make him throw a strike here. And he did. It was up in the zone. Three and one. Well, they’ve got him to 20 pitches, however this inning ends. Foul of third, three and two. And while the Astros do have the third best bullpen erra in Major League Baseball, they wouldn’t like to dip into it all that early tonight. 20 pitches for Framber Valdez. Simeon at third, Garcia at second. Cold strike three. He dotted him on the inside corner and Valdez escapes a treacherous first inning with just one run. Hey, hey.

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