Thoughts on a 7-3 Rangers win – Lone Star Ball
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Photo by Nicole Vasquez/MLB Photos via Getty Images
Rangers 7, Astros 3
A win with a bunch of runs scored.
And back to that one-game-under-.500 mark that’s been so difficult to get past of late.
Jack Leiter was not at his sharpest, battling his command at times and issuing four walks to go along with the five hits he gave up.
But Leiter was good enough, going 5.1 innings and giving up the three runs the Astros scored on the day. The Rangers bullpen took it over from there.
For much of the season, three runs allowed in 5+ innings has not been good enough from the starting pitchers. Too often such an outing put the Rangers in a hole which they were unlikely to get out of, doomed them to a defeat in a low-scoring game.
But that’s not the case the way the bats have been performing lately.
The Rangers jumped on the board in the second. Corey Seager singled with out one and Marcus Semien was hit by a pitch. After an Adolis Garcia K, Wyatt Langford smoked a ball towards third that Isaac Paredes was able to stop, but upon finally fielding it, was unable to beat Seager to third.
Evan Carter immediately fell down 0-2, then reacted to a ball in the dirt in a way that indicated he thought it hit him. The home plate umpire said no, the Rangers challenged, and the call stood. No worries, though, as Carter laced a line drive to right field to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead.
More runs came in the third, with Adolis homering with one out — resulting in a cascade of boos from Astros fans who still hate him — and Jonah Heim driving home a pair of runs with a two out double. Heim was thrown out at third on the play, after Cam Smith had trouble tracking the ball down but then made a very good throw, but it gave the Rangers a 5-1 lead.
Heim’s double was also the end of the night for Lance McCullers, who needed 83 pitches to get through the three innings. The Astros went with the fabled trio of Steven Okert, Ryan Gusto and Kaleb Ort for the final six innings.
The Rangers had various opportunities to score the rest of the way, though the only runs they pushed across were courtesy of a Wyatt Langford two run homer in the 7th.
Every Ranger starter had a hit except for Marcus Semien. Langford had a four hit night, which we like to see.
The bad news is that Jake Burger left the game with quad soreness. He was replaced by Ezequiel Duran. Hopefully this is minor and not something that will sideline Burger going forward.
Jack Leiter touched 99.7 mph with his fastball, averaging 97.7 mph. Shawn Armstrong hit 94.7 mph with his sinker. Hoby Milner topped out at 88.9 mph with his sinker. Chris Martin reached 96.4 mph with his fastball. Robert Garcia’s fastball maxed out at 95.4 mph.
Jake Burger had a 108.6 mph line out and a 101.9 mph GIDP. Wyatt Langford had a 108.2 mph home run and a 106.6 mph single. Adolis Garcia had a 105.6 mph home run. Evan Carter had a 104.9 mph single. Corey Seager had a 104.0 mph single. Josh Smith had a 103.9 mph single. Kyle Higashioka had a 100.5 mph ground out.
Two games to go before the Break. Positive thoughts that the Rangers can keep this going.
