{"id":703670,"date":"2026-05-20T04:00:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T04:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/703670\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T04:00:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T04:00:24","slug":"rangers-kumar-rocker-conquers-coors-field-for-best-road-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/703670\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers’ Kumar Rocker conquers Coors Field for best road game"},"content":{"rendered":"

DENVER \u2014 The Rangers<\/a> intended to provide right-handed pitcher Kumar Rocker a theoretically easier pathway to success in an environment that’s given him fits this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The delayed start might’ve helped.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The five-run lead they spotted him for it could’ve been an even bigger boost.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rocker, buoyed by an offense that pounced on their opponent’s own unconventional mound plan for a season-best output, pitched 7 2\/3 scoreless innings in a 10-0 win against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field Tuesday night. The Rangers chose to use left-handed pitcher Tyler Alexander<\/a> as an opener given Rocker’s first-inning struggles this season, and after their reliever pitched one scoreless frame, their starter anchored the rest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old, who has a 11.25 ERA in the first inning of games this season, allowed three hits, one walk and struck out five batters in what was the best road appearance of his career. Rocker had never completed six innings on the road, never posted a scoreless appearance on the road and only won a single game on the road in his first season-plus as a big leaguer. He allowed two singles in the second inning to\u00a0designated hitter Troy Johnston and right fielder Tyler Freeman but held the Rockies hitless until the seventh after that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Rangers led 5-0 before Rocker entered the game, too, because of a two-run first inning and a three-run third. The Rockies used left-handed pitcher Sammy Peralta as an opener, but after the Rangers tagged him for two runs on two hits and two walks before he could record a third out, right-handed pitcher Tanner Gordon was forced into the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gordon allowed three runs in\u00a0the third on singles from right fielder Brandon Nimmo, shortstop Ezequiel Duran<\/a> and first baseman Jake Burger<\/a>. The Rangers scored twice in the fourth (on a two-run home run from Nimmo), once in the fifth (on a sacrifice fly from second baseman Justin Foscue), once\u00a0in the seventh (on a single from designated hitter Joc Pederson<\/a>) and once in the eighth (on a Duran double). Nimmo and Duran combined for seven hits and seven runs driven in while Pederson, who replaced designated hitter Andrew McCutchen in the second inning, set a franchise record with four hits off of the bench.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Rangers, who’ve scored 24 runs in their last three games, were the only team in baseball that hadn’t scored double digit runs yet this season before Tuesday night’s outburst.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER \u2014 The Rangers intended to provide right-handed pitcher Kumar Rocker a theoretically easier pathway to success in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2405],"tags":[5,226,167,52,4316,4,168,87965,88485,83514,88461],"class_list":["post-703670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-colorado-rockies","tag-baseball","tag-brandon-nimmo","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-coloradorockies","tag-mlb","tag-rockies","tag-tp-jake-burger","tag-tp-joc-pederson","tag-tp-texas-rangers","tag-tp-kumar-rocker"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116604909927613786","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}