ARLINGTON, Texas — Truth be told, the Texas Rangers are surely happy to get out of Minute Maid Park still in first place in the American League West. But, at the same time, after a blowout win in a contentious finale, they appear itching to bury their Lone Star State rivals.
Texas lost one game total in the standings over the three game series, but the two games they lost highlighted the dire necessity for upgrading their pitching in the coming days. Whether it’s the rotation or the bullpen, the Rangers’ front office now has five days to make a move that can help support the offense that was still prolific.
- Game 101: Texas 9, Houston 10 (W: Pressly, 3-2, L: Speas, 0-2)
- Game 102: Texas 3, Houston 4 (W: France, 6-3, L: Rodriguez, 0-1, Sv: Pressly, 24)
- Game 103: Texas 13, Houston 3 (W: Heaney, 7-6, L: Valdez, 8-7
Three Up
An acceptable bullpen game – Most times, when a team’s hand is forced and they must opt for a game without a starting pitcher you can just assume a defeat is on the way, especially for a team with a thin bullpen like the Rangers.
Tuesday, a Rangers’ trio of Yerry Rodriguez, Cody Bradford and Spencer Howard, though, did a fantastic job of keeping Texas in the game. The three were called into service as the Rangers made the decision to rest their ace Nathan Eovaldi in the wake of some decreased velocity over the last couple of games.
Rodriguez, who had been up and down from Arlington to Round Rock over the season, opened up the game with two runs surrendered over two innings with three strikeouts. Cody Bradford, normally the Rangers’ first choice for spot starter, but having pitched 1.1 innings just four days prior, threw five innings after that and gave up two runs of his own. And that was it, as Howard put up a scoreless frame in his return to the big leagues.
It wasn’t an Eovaldi-esque quality start, but if you only surrender four runs during a bullpen game, you gladly take that. Unfortunately for Texas, it was also the game where the bats did the least amount of damage which culminated in a one-run loss.
Heaney with the rope-a-dope – Andrew Heaney hasn’t had the best of times on the mound of late. Really, since the end of May, Heaney has had an up and down couple of months, sometimes giving Texas a chance in games, sometimes getting hit hard to produce a lost cause.
This time, though, in a game that the Rangers desperately needed him to put up some quality innings, Heaney overcame a rough first inning to shove for five innings, surpassing even his usual 80-pitch limit of effectiveness. After a 1st-inning three-run home run served up to Alex Bregman, Heaney allowed just two more singles and two more walks as the bats came to life to help him earn the win.
The offense strikes back – Despite having only three runs to show for it, the Rangers actually put together some good at-bats in the second game. There were several hard hit balls that just found leather and several more that went the wrong way around the foul line. This was after a game where Texas got scored on and then responded with outbursts of their own in the opener, much the same way that they handled things in the finale of the Dodgers’ series.
The breaks finally went Texas’ way in the last game of this series, as some emotionally charged swings placed baseballs in spectator seats. The swings were pointed and heightened after some “errant” pitches found themselves too close to hitters.
After Bregman’s 1st-inning home run, Heaney hit the recently-returned Yordan Alvarez with a seemingly unintentional 0-2 pitch. In the top of the 3rd inning, Marcus Semien was drilled by a pitch from Houston ace Framber Valdez. Texas made Valdez pay for that bit of gamesmanship as the free, punitive base runner scored on a Nathaniel Lowe homer to bring the Rangers back to within a run.
At that point, warnings were issued to both benches. With a chip on their shoulder, Texas scored four more runs in the 4th, including a rocket of a home run by Semien, during which he stared down Valdez.
Texas next erupted for seven runs in the 5th, including a Sam Huff homer, a bases-loaded walk, and a monstrous grand slam by Adolis Garcia. That’s when the emotion really took over, as both benches cleared as some words were uttered between Astros catcher Martin Maldonado and Semien. Both would be ejected, but by that point, the offensive damage had been done, as Texas led and would go on to win by the score of 13-5.
Three Down
Chapman crumbles – Asked to protect a four-run lead on Sunday against the Dodgers, Aroldis Chapman allowed a double, but otherwise took care of Los Angeles with some definitively powerful pitches. Asked to protect a three-run lead the next night against Houston, Chapman walked a couple while exhibiting very little control which led to his first hiccup with Texas.
Going into this game, Chapman’s luck at Minute Maid Park wasn’t very good. After a Chas McCormick three-run homer to tie the game, Chapman’s ERA in the Astros’ home is now 6.57 in 15 games spanning 12 ⅓ innings, surrendering nine hits, nine runs and nine walks in his career.
Heim hurting – Not to be overlooked in the 13-3 drubbing in the series finale is the fact that catcher Jonah Heim had to leave the game in the middle of an at-bat after experiencing discomfort in his left wrist.
The injury was later disclosed as soreness, with more information set to come before the Rangers’ series in San Diego.
While Sam Huff took over duties behind the plate and mashed his first home run of the season, it’s no doubt that the All-Star presence of the Rangers’ backstop will be missed on both sides of the plate if he misses more time.
On the season, Heim is slashing .280/.337/.479 with 14 homers and 70 RBI. Behind the plate, Heim has been one of the best defenders and game callers in the big leagues, sporting a 3.89 catcher ERA while being a top flight pitch framer. On a team that is already without Corey Seager due to injury, having Heim out for a length of time would be a further detriment.
Gray roughed up – Jon Gray did not have anywhere near his best stuff while tasked with opening the series against Houston. Battling command issues and allowing far too many balls to leak over the middle parts of the strike zone, Gray gave up four runs in the 1st inning, including walking in a run in and allowing Chas McCormick to turn around a straight-arrow fastball for an RBI-producing double.
Gray would have one clean inning – the 3rd – but saw traffic in every other frame. In the 5th, after the Rangers gave him a two-run lead, Gray allowed the first three batters of the inning to reach base before seeing the game tied, courtesy of two sacrifice flies, ending his night.
On paper, it might look like Texas gets a reprieve by heading to San Diego to take on the lackluster Padres. But they’ll be facing Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish, and Blake Snell during the three-game set, so there won’t be an easy night out on the West Coast.
Houston, meanwhile, welcomes in Tampa Bay. Texas might have lost a game in the standings overall after this series, but they are still two games up on Houston in the West, as they have been for three straight months now – and that has to be frustrating for Houston.
After emotions boiled over for both teams in the finale, the Rangers got the last laugh. With the Astros still unable to get over the hump, it is Texas that remains the team to beat in the AL West.
Do you think the series finale blowout win was a statement game for the Rangers? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
More Texas headlines: