The Texas Rangers scored five runs while the Anaheim Angels scored three runs.
Corey Seager is heating up, and that’s good news for a Rangers team that has struggled all season to put together big innings. After three hits last night, Seager collected two more tonight, including a solo home run in the seventh that made gave Texas some breathing room.
Before that sigh of relief the Rangers had scored four runs, including two runs via a bases loaded Leody Taveras double that nearly cleared the bases. Texas has been so bereft of extra bases with runners on base that it was a pleasant sight to see tonight, especially from the No. 9 hitter in the lineup.
Ultimately the Rangers got hits from everyone in the lineup tonight except for one. Poor Joc Pederson, hitting third in the order, has now gone hitless in his last 36 at-bats and hasn’t collected a single RBI all year, with like 12% of the season already in the books.
Sometimes, rather than just objectively positive things, I enjoy peculiar things when it comes to sports. I figure, other than just geographical reasons, this is why I stuck around with the Texas Rangers this long. Their brand is basically weird trivia.
I wouldn’t say I’ve enjoyed Joc Pederson’s first three weeks as a Ranger, and he certainly isn’t enjoying it himself, but it has been an oddity, something new to observe as maybe the worst start to a season that I’ve ever seen from a veteran, established player.
Player of the Game: Another novelty from tonight is the fact that Kumar Rocker became a big league winner for the first time in his career and he did so with arguably his best outing with Texas and certainly his most efficient.
I’ve been kind of griping at how different Rocker has looked since the hellacious swing and miss stuff that he sported in his cup of coffee outings from last September, with this season seeing the big righty leaning hard on pitching to contact perhaps in a bid to stay longer in games. Tonight he seemed to figure out that formula to overwhelming success.
Rocker tossed seven innings, far and away his longest outing in the big leagues, allowed five hits and three runs (two of which came after some questionable infield defense behind him), and zero walks to go along with eight strikeouts in the win.
Rocker lived in the zone and thrived there, throwing 58 of his 78 pitches for strikes while collecting 15 swings and misses. The guy who was a household name at Vanderbilt, a No. 3 overall pick, and someone scouts have been dreaming on for seemingly a decade now did it on a big league mound and now has a big league win and the Rangers have another home sweep.
Up Next: The Rangers slap on their Peagles with the National League’s L.A. team coming to town in a battle between the latest two World Series winners. RHP Jacob deGrom will pitch for Texas opposite RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto for the Dodgers.
The Friday night first pitch from The Shed is set for 7:05 pm CT and you’ll find it on the Rangers Sports Network.