ARLINGTON, Texas — Against a Seattle Mariners squad that was seen as being on the rise, having gone 7-3 in their previous 10 games going in, the Texas Rangers put together two of their best starting pitching efforts, two of their best offensive outputs, and even got one of the best games from their relievers, which all culminated in a sweep of their division rivals.
Seattle was weighed, measured and found wanting.
And while the Mariners haven’t played like the powerhouse that people were expecting at the start of the season, Texas still beat their best starting pitcher and won the battle of bullpens where, on paper, Seattle looked to have the edge.
In the end, it was the Texas offense – as it has all year – that proved inevitable all weekend.
- Game 56: Seattle 0, Texas 2 (W: Gray, 6-1, L: Castillo, 4-3, Sv: Smith, 10)
- Game 57: Seattle 6, Texas 16 (W: Sborz, 2-2, L: Woo, 0-1)
- Game 58: Seattle 3, Texas 12 (W: Eovaldi, 8-2, L: Miller, 3-3)
Gray Daze
Jon Gray, a potential candidate for May Pitcher of the Month if not for teammate Nathan Eovaldi actually earning the accolade, put up another gem in his first start of June. It was a necessary performance, as the Mariners’ Luis Castillo matched him frame for frame through the first handful of innings of the game.
Castillo, in fact, had a no-hitter going into the fifth. Gray also encountered little trouble in the meantime. Seattle had a few opportunities but Gray was up to the task of shutting the Mariners down.
All in all, Gray went seven innings, giving up zero runs, two hits, walking one and striking out five. While in the shadow of Eovaldi in May and with Jacob deGrom looming, Gray has thrown like the pitcher the Colorado Rockies thought they were getting when they drafted him 3rd overall in the first round of 2013.
How do you spell relief?
Maybe it was bringing up a relative unknown in Grant Anderson to suddenly provide successful high leverage innings. Maybe it was Eovaldi and Gray giving them several days of light work by going deep into their games. Whatever it is, the rehabilitation of the bullpen in recent days has been a welcome sign.
The relievers stepped up in a big way on Saturday. Andrew Heaney, who had averaged just over six innings per start over his last four outings, couldn’t make it past the 3rd as the Mariners made him labor. Heaney ended up with a lot of traffic on the basepaths, and while he struck out five, he also walked four and allowed six hits. The outing was Heaney’s shortest of his season, with the exception of his first start with Texas back in early April.
With Heaney out, that left a worrying six innings on the plate of the shaky bullpen. While Texas scored three runs in each of the first two frames, the bullpen was asked to protect a 6-2 lead. That margin wasn’t guaranteed, either, after the bullpen had squandered similar leads earlier in the season.
Josh Sborz was the first man called upon, tasked with putting out a bases loaded, no-out fire left by Heaney. Sborz got Ty France to strike out, but then allowed an inherited runner to score on a fielder’s choice off the bat of 2022 AL Rookie of the Year Julio Rodriguez. Still needing one more out to escape the inning up 6-3, the next play proved that when things are going well, sometimes you get all the breaks. Rodriguez attempted to steal second and the ball slipped out of catcher Jonah Heim’s hand.
Instead of a disaster that allowed another Mariners run to score and keep their rally going, the ball acted like a little dribbler toward shortstop Corey Seager who fielded the errant throw cleanly and threw out opportunistic Seattle runner Jose Caballero at the plate.
While it took a little bit of divine intervention for the inning to turn out more harmless than it could have been, Sborz was credited with getting out of the dangerous frame without allowing further damage. He even contributed an uneventful 5th inning, retiring Seattle in order to end his afternoon.
By the time Sborz was finished, the Rangers’ bats had piled on for a 10-3 lead which allowed Texas to call upon Jose Lecerlc to continue trying to work his way back to a position of trust. Leclerc allowed just one hit over two innings, making it a fourth consecutive appearance without allowing a run for the former closer. Left-hander Cole Ragans followed with a scoreless, two-strikeout 8th inning.
John King was the one reliever of the afternoon to experience trouble, but even the three runs that King coughed up weren’t enough for Seattle to put a dent in Texas’ lead as they finished the contest with a 16-6 win.
The ability of the bullpen arms to go multiple innings with a big lead saved manager Bruce Bochy from needing to use his more trusted options like Anderson or Will Smith. Ultimately, Saturday’s win should help bolster the confidence of the one spot on the team that hasn’t yet pulled its weight.
Nate the Great and The Flying Jankowski
May’s best, Eovaldi, continued to roll right on into June, just as the Rangers’ offense continued to write their names into the history books in the series finale. Another double-digit output, and another Eovaldi scoreless performance meant a sweep for Texas.
Eovaldi, in his last seven starts, which includes two complete game shutouts, has put up a 0.68 ERA. The ace of the Rangers’ rotation threw only 87 pitches in the finale on Sunday. The right-handed Texan could have gone deeper in this one but Texas decided that he’d done enough with the team leading 12-0 after six innings.
With the rest of the season ahead of them, conserving Eovaldi’s arm during the summer is a long-term decision that Bochy and the Rangers won’t regret down the stretch.
While Eovaldi and the Texas bats were the headliners, center fielder Travis Jankowski will make all of the highlight reels on the sports recap shows. Giving Leody Taveras the day off after a bruised knee in Saturday’s game, Jankowski not only went 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored, but the journeyman outfielder also took away a home run and an extra base hit with two incredible leaping catches. Did either of those catches save the game? No. But it is a testament to how hard this team plays, even with the game well in hand.
How do you sum up an offense like the Rangers?
30 more runs this weekend. Two more double-digit outbursts. Whispers of the New York Yankees of the 1920s and 1930s as historical contemporaries. They should have sent a poet.
Do you think the Rangers will build upon their division lead in June? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
