Thoughts on a 5-1 Rangers win – Lone Star Ball
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Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images
Rangers 5, Astros 1
And like that, the Rangers are back in sole possession of second place in the American League West, and have clinched at least a split of this four game series.
I do not have fond memories of Ronel Blanco pitching against the Texas Rangers. I remember him last year coming into Texas, on the heels of throwing a no hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays, and taking a no hitter into the sixth inning against the Rangers, in Texas. I am reasonably sure I was at that game, which featured just two hits, the second of which being the Justin Foscue pinch hit single in the ninth inning off of Josh Hader that kept the Rangers from being shut out but also resulted in him landing on the 60 day i.l. with an oblique strain.
Six days later Blanco once again started against Texas, and allowed two runs in the first inning, allowing us to think, aha, we’ve figured him out! He then allowed two hits and no runs in innings two through six, and the Rangers lost 9-2 when Jose Urena and Austin Pruitt combined to allow 7 runs in innings six through eight.
The Rangers faced Blanco again later in the 2024 season, and actually won that game, but Blanco once again went six innings and allowed just two runs.
So when Ronel Blanco is on the mound for the Astros, my natural instinct is to assume that the Rangers aren’t going to score many runs — at least when he’s in the game — and they might be at risk of being no hit or having someone get hurt and be out for two months.
Also, Tyler Mahle has been excellent so far this season, but there’s also been an element of what seems to be bullet dodging going on with Mahle. He’s not missed a ton of bats this year, his K rate is below average, and his .216 BABIP coming into the game combined with a 4.1% HR/FB rate makes you feel that there’s going to be a game coming where all that comes crashing down.
And if a game like that happened, one would expect it to be against the hated Houston Astros, because that’s just how things seem to go. Especially if Ronel Blanco is on the mound.
So Tyler Mahle allowing a single and a double with two outs in the top of the first put me in a mindset of expectancy of bad things. This was a game that was going to make me sad, I felt, except that if I got out in front of it and expected bad things to happen, the game wouldn’t make me sad, because I was properly mentally prepared for it. I could nod sagely and say, yes, I anticipated this.
During the bottom of the third this anticipatory negativity seemed to be being validated. Kyle Higashioka walked to lead off the inning, with Sam Haggerty following that up with a laced line drive into the right center gap that hit the ground and bounded up in the stands for…
I was going to say a “ground rule double,” but Dave Raymond always calls it an “automatic double,” since a ground rule is a rule that is applied just at that particular stadium (thus a “ground rule” — a rule for play at these particular grounds), whereas a ball bounding into the seats after hitting the ground is a double everywhere.
Anyway, Higashioka would have scored easily, but instead had to stay at third due to the rules about the doubles that you have when a ball bounces into the stands, and I felt in all of my scrotums the fear, the seeming certain knowledge, that Higashioka would be stranded at third.
Josh Smith hit a shallow popup to left field that was caught, with no one advancing. Wyatt Langford then fell behind 0-2 to Blanco, the Evil Mr. White, as I started to think of him, as compared to Andres Blanco, the Good Mr. White.
If Ronel Blanco is the Evil Mr. White, maybe we should call him Heisenberg.
Anyway, I was ready for Langford, who has been slumping of late, to fan feebly at the third pitch of the inning for strike three, and go back to the bench, and Josh Jung to hit a line drive with like a 104.3 exit velocity straight to Jose Altuve in left field to end the inning. I was bracing for it. I was already mentally skipping ahead to thinking about Sunday’s game, and the hope of a win then to salvage a split.
But see, negativity doesn’t always prevail. The worst doesn’t always happen. Murphy wasn’t an optimist after all. Langford watched three sliders out of the strike zone, then jumped on a curve ball that was knocked down by Jeremy Pena, who had no play at first, tried to get Haggerty going back to second, threw it away, and thus allowed Haggerty to go to third.
Now, don’t get too excited here…no other runs scored in the inning. After Jung struck out Langford even tried stealing second to see if he could draw a throw and allow Haggerty to go home, but they didn’t bite. Adolis Garcia walked, Marcus Semien grounded out weakly to end the inning, and we were all able to go back to grousing about the offense.
I am please to report, however, that things took a turn for the better. A one out single by Semien in the sixth was followed by a big ol’ poke out to right center by Joc Pederson, off of the Evil Mr. White no less, to provide Texas with a 3-1 lead. A Josh Smith sac fly and a Wyatt Langford homer in the seventh made it a 5-1 game, and there was even more happiness and joy to be had.
Tyler Mahle, it turned out, wasn’t turning into a pumpkin today. He still didn’t miss many bats (11 whiffs in 96 pitches) or strike out many hitters (just three Ks), but he went six with just the one run allowed. The Jacob Webb/Chris Martin/Robert Garcia combo was able to finish things out.
I do want to note that the home plate umpire’s strike zone seemed pretty squirrelly, especially early on. Both teams were unhappy with it at various times. But the Rangers won, so who cares.
Tyler Mahle maxed out with his fastball at 94.6 mph, averaging 92.5 mph. Jacob Webb’s fastball hit 93.9 mph. Chris Martin’s fastball touched 94.8 mph. Robert Garcia topped out at 94.3 mph with his fastball.
Jake Burger had a 110.8 mph double. Wyatt Langford had a 108.1 mph home run. Joc Pederson had a 106.3 mph home run and a 105.8 mph ground out. Marcus Semien had a 105.6 mph single. Sam Haggerty had a 102.5 mph double.
Day game Sunday, with an off day Monday, looking to take the series. Let’s do this.
