ST. LOUIS — Another MLB debut for a Ranger reliever; another scoreless outing.
On Wednesday, after sitting and waiting in the Rangers’ bullpen, lefty Robby Ahlstrom finally got his chance to make his debut. It might have been the most impressive of the four relievers who made their debut for the Rangers. And that’s saying something, because each of them held the opponent scoreless.
Ahlstrom retired all four batters he faced in the seventh and eighth innings, throwing mostly 96-mph four-seamers to the right-handed hitters in St. Louis’ lineup and 96-mph sinkers to the lefties.
Ahlstrom, who turns 27 on June 18, was a seventh-round selection by the New York Yankees in 2021 and acquired by the Rangers the next spring for Jose Trevino.
The University of Oregon product followed Peyton Gray, Gavin Collyer and Carter Baumler as pitchers who broke in this season with the Rangers. Ahlstrom was the only one to get more than three outs.
He began his career by striking out Jose Fermin with a 96-mph fastball at the knees, then got a pop out and struck out former Rangers prospect Thomas Sagesse to end the inning. He returned for the eighth and got the first out on a line drive to third. He threw 17 pitches to get his four outs and threw only six balls. On both of the strikeouts, he used his slider for the second strike to create leverage.
“He was outstanding,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “He was 94 [mph] to 97, throwing strikes, getting a big league strikeout. It was awesome to see.”