It\u2019s not that it\u2019s been unappreciated. At every turn in the first quarter of the season, Chris Young and Bruce Bochy have rained praise on the the group, from the elite stuff of Nathan Eovaldi and Jacob deGrom, to the comeback of Tyler Mahle, to the progress of Jack Leiter and the consistency of Patrick Corbin. It\u2019s all been true, too. But, you know, the hitting. <\/p>\n
Well, in case you were too caught up in all the turmoil that roiled the offense, here\u2019s exactly where the Rangers\u2019 rotation stands after a 4-1 win over Colorado Tuesday night: The best it\u2019s ever been.<\/p>\n
Rangers<\/p>\n
Not even a pair of homers by Josh Jung, who drove in all four runs, could steal the spotlight from the pitching staff. Nice try, though.<\/p>\n
With Jack Leiter rolling through both six innings and the first quality start of his career, the Rangers completed a dominant turn of the rotation and lowered their rotation ERA to 2.96 through the first 43 games of the season. It\u2019s the first time the Rangers have been below 3.00 since the club moved to Texas in 1972. The previous best: 3.27 in 2017 when the Rangers were relying on a 1-2 punch of Yu Darvish and Cole Hamels. No disrespect, but this group has been better. Not just by a little. <\/p>\n
But, hey, Rangers pitching standards have historically skewed a little on the high side (which isn\u2019t great when you are talking about ERAs). This year, they stand up pretty well against the rest of baseball. They are second to Kansas City (2.94) in the AL, third in baseball. The Rangers began the day with the best WHIP in the majors and the second-fewest walks allowed. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think we are all competing with each other,\u201d said Eovaldi, who may not have the Cy Youngs that deGrom owns but is the clear leader of the group. \u201cI like the way we\u2019re making each other better. Everybody in the room wants to be the best. We are going out and attacking the zone and going six or seven really strong innings. We want to give the team an opportunity to win. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve talked a lot about offense and stuff, but pitchers as a whole, you want to give your team a chance to win the game And I think everybody is feeling really good about it. Everybody\u2019s really confident and it doesn\u2019t matter what team we face.\u201d<\/p>\n
What the Rangers are doing is largely an extension of pitching coach Mike Maddux\u2019s old-school approach: Attack the strike zone. Pitch to contact. Treat walks like a communicable disease. Because they are. Did we mention the Rangers\u2019 rotation had the second-lowest walk percentage? We did? We can\u2019t believe it either. We should mention that despite not ranking in the top tier of strikeouts, they do rank fourth in strikeout-to-walk rate, a key indicator of success for Young. <\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Leiter allowed a first-inning run, then nothing more for five additional innings to get his first win since that April blister interrupted a hot start<\/a>. Like Eovaldi did on Sunday at Detroit, he mixed his pitches well, using four different pitches each at least 10 times. He didn\u2019t throw any single pitch more than 31% of the time. It\u2019s almost as if Leiter is learning a bit from Eovaldi.<\/p>\n \u201cLike all good players, pitchers learn from their peers, especially those with experience and how good they are throwing strikes,\u201d Bochy said. \u201cI think other pitchers do feed off it. They attack hitters and don\u2019t beat themselves. And they make those around them better.\u201d<\/p>\n Sure seems that way. For the just-finished five-game spin of the rotation, the starters combined for a 1.72 ERA in 31 \u2153 innings, which, yeah, averages more than six innings apiece. The rotation went 4-1, getting decisions in all five games. The lone loser: Corbin, who lost a 2-1 duel with the reigning AL Cy Young Award holder, Tarik Skubal in Detroit<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cEverybody\u2019s been attacking the zone,\u201d Eovaldi said. \u201cWhen we leave the pitchers meetings, we are feeling really confident, like that team [across the field] is not going to be hitting very good. Mike doesn\u2019t really touch on, like, \u2018this guy\u2019s hitting this pitch or this guy has been doing this well.\u2019 <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been attack, attack, attack. I think that mentality gives us a lot of confidence.\u201d <\/p>\n To that point, Leiter\u2019s summary of his outing sounded a lot like Eovaldi\u2019s summary of the rotation. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was just attacking the zone,\u201d Leiter said. \u201cIt\u2019s like anything else. I think I still could have done a better job of it. And, you know, potentially pitch deeper into that game. When the bullpen is kind of light, you got to attack even more and and do everything you can to get deep into a game. So that\u2019s what I tried to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Another gem: See photos from Texas Rangers’ win over Rockies, powered by strong start from Jack Leiter<\/p>\n Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Texas](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1747199895_548_KBGBGKJPMZBFDAYATSRBWAJN7U.jpg\")
View GalleryTexas Rangers reliever Chris Martin exits game with elbow tightness<\/a>Texas Rangers put Corey Seager back on IL to \u2018make sure we get him right\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n