HOUSTON — The Texas Rangers had their first look at the American League West over the weekend and they came away winners with an emphatic 9-1 victory on Sunday clinching a series in Houston for Texas for the first time since the 2018 season.
Here’s a look back at what transpired as the Rangers remained atop the division:
Taking the Lowe road
Nathaniel Lowe has shown no signs of slowing down after his breakout season in 2022. During a time when the loss of Corey Seager would seem to leave a significant hole in the Texas lineup, the Rangers’ first baseman has just been rolling along, unaffected.
In the opener, Lowe extended his hitting streak to nine games and his RBI streak to four games, with a run-scoring double in the 1st and a run-scoring single in the 5th, then continued on to extend the hitting streak to 11 through the weekend.
The streak included a leadoff double in the 7th inning that keyed the Rangers’ 6-run inning in the Sunday night finale win. With Seager out for a month, at least; the hope is that Lowe can continue to step forward as a run-producer for Texas. From the heart of the order, it cannot be stated enough how important Lowe’s bat is for this team right now.
Gray skies clear up
A doomsday scenario flashed before our eyes. No sooner had the ball left Jon Gray’s hand in the bottom of the 3rd on Saturday had it come back off the bat of Yainer Diaz at 109.3 MPH.
“I thought my arm was broken,” Gray would say later. Everyone else must have too, as he took one and a half steps toward the deflected ball before lamely looking at his right arm like it was a foreign object. By some divine intervention by the Baseball Gods, Gray suffered only a bruised arm and, perhaps even more of a miracle, isn’t expected to miss his next start.
The bullpen effort that followed Gray’s early departure didn’t exactly do much to inspire confidence. While Cole Ragans did the yeoman’s work – going four innings of two run ball with three strikeouts in the loss – it was veteran Ian Kennedy who coughed up five runs, four earned, and only retired one batter.
Josh Sborz, recalled before the opener to replace the underperforming Taylor Hearn, put out the fire and finished the game. But on a staff where somebody breathing wrong in the rotation could cause a bullpen game to break out, Texas is going to need to find the right combination of relief arms.
The best approach
The finale of the series was filled with the familiar aggressive, first-pitch fastball-seeking offense that seemed to help Astros’ ace Framber Valdez out by getting him out of innings quickly. But in the top of the 7th, all the tumblers in the lock finally fell and the Rangers had an incredibly productive inning.
Lowe started things off with a well-worked at-bat for a six-pitch double, bringing Valdez up from the bottom of the zone until he threw a cutter that didn’t move much off the lower middle of the plate. Texas caught a break when Jeremy Peña made a rare throwing error, which made every run after it unearned.
A key at-bat by third baseman Josh Jung followed. Valdez was throwing alternating sinkers and curveballs, curves that had been absolutely unhittable the entire night, until he left one just up enough on a 3-2 count to send a grounder through the hole on the left side. It didn’t score a run, but it was the hit that the Rangers needed to keep the rally going.
Jung, if you’ll recall, had a similar at-bat on Opening Day that triggered the Rangers’ 9-run inning in their win against Philadelphia. He had another excellent approach in a high-stakes moment that loaded the bases for Texas.
Jonah Heim continued the string of good plate appearances, drawing a five-pitch walk to score the game’s first run. Then Robbie Grossman, who had been mired in an 0-for-22 slump, finally broke through with a first-pitch swinging single to the left side to make it 2-0.
That Grossman single knocked Valdez out of the game and set the stage for the Rangers’ second grand slam of the year. After a shallow flyout from Leody Taveras and a strike out from pinch-hitter Travis Jankowski, Marcus Semien launched a grand slam into the Crawford Boxes.
Fire Fighters
After taking a 6-0 lead on Sunday, there was a little bit of a scare in the bottom of the frame, as Houston had their own bases loaded situation. Brock Burke, who had enjoyed a clean 6th inning, started off the 7th by surrendering a double and two walks. With the bases juiced and nobody out, manager Bruce Bochy called on Jonathan Hernandez, looking for some high-heat strikeouts.
Hernandez got Martin Maldonado and Mauricio Dubon on Ks, but then walked Alex Bregman to allow a run with some questionable pitch selection. Bochy, a multiple-time World Series winning manager, bound for the Hall of Fame and celebrating his birthday, invited Will Smith to the party to get Texas out of the mess.
Smith had to face the Astros’ hottest hitter, Yordan Alvarez and got him to tap out weakly to third base and end the threat. Though it came in a 6-1 game that Texas was reasonably expected to win, the out still proved big to dissuade an Astros’ comeback bid that could have been demoralizing for the Rangers.
Statement series
The 2023 season isn’t even 10% complete, but Houston was going to be Texas’ first big test. While the Astros were without Jose Altuve and Lance McCullers, Jr, the Rangers did exactly what they needed to do to put more distance between their first place status and their division rivals.
Not only was this series win important in terms of the season, but Texas can finally brag a little about taking a series in Houston for the first time since they swept the Astros at Minute Maid Park back in July 2018.
At 9-6 on the season, Texas now sits 2.5 games ahead of the Astros in the American League West. They are 2 games up on second place Seattle.
Do you think the Rangers have turned the corner against their in-state rivals? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
