DALLAS — After beginning the season at home for six games, the Texas Rangers traveled to the friendly confines of Wrigley Field for a series against the Chicago Cubs to open up their road slate in 2023.
Chicago in early April isn’t known for having the easiest conditions to play in as Texas fought through the chill that cooled their bats, and the sun that challenged their defense during the day games, until they broke through for a big Easter Sunday victory.
Here’s a look back at points of interest from Texas’ first road series:
Tip of the cap
Sometimes, you just have to acknowledge that the other pitcher was on their game. In the case of Cubs’ ace Marcus Stroman, he never got off of his game. Stroman, who blanked the Brewers for six innings on Opening Day, had a nearly identical line against the visiting Rangers in the opener on Friday afternoon.
In this instance, Stroman gave up one less hit and struck out two fewer than he did in his first outing but he was just as difficult to do damage to. Stroman tossed six innings of shutout ball and put the Rangers to rest, even though Texas got a strong performance from Jon Gray themselves.
Having a strong defense up the middle for Chicago certainly helped with the weak contact Stroman was able to induce.
Tipped off the glove
The second game of this series was essentially a comedy of errors – literally and figuratively for Texas. Martin Perez didn’t pitch all that badly for the Rangers. He went five innings and allowed two earned runs while striking out five on 90 pitches. One has to think that Perez could have gone a good ways’ deeper with fewer runs allowed if not for the sloppy defense behind him.
The poor play started in the 1st, with a throwing error by shortstop Corey Seager allowing Dansby Swanson to go to second. After a balk, a ground out allowed Swanson to score. In the bottom of the second, it was Marcus Semien who had a fielding error. This was immediately followed by a throwing error by catcher Jonah Heim, allowing Cody Bellinger to not only succeed in stealing second, but also nab third.
That one didn’t lead to a run, but Bellinger would have been the third out of the inning to help keep Perez’s pitch count low. After Perez left, Seager made another error behind Ian Kennedy, which allowed Trey Mancini to get to third on a Patrick Wisdom single. Mancini came around to score off a base hit by pinch-hitter Eric Hosmer.
Finally to rub salt in the wound, Adolis Garcia made a lackadaisical throw back to the infield that was ruled an error as it bounced oddly on Seager, and Dansby Swanson took advantage of the moment to score another run in the bottom of the 8th.
You’re generally not going to win a game in which you commit five errors and the Rangers did nothing to disprove this theory.
Back of the line
There were good signs for the Rangers on Sunday, however, as the bottom part of the lineup came through to salvage the three game series and avoid the sweep. Josh Smith, Jonah Heim, Travis Jankowski and Bubba Thompson each had at least one hit – the last three each scored twice as Texas wrapped up in Chicago with an 8-2 win.
Thompson – who was making his first start of the 2023 campaign – collected two hits, scored two and knocked in two, all while flashing some of the trademark jets that helped him to a double and a triple.
With his elite speed, Thompson embodies the idea of “put the ball in play and see what happens.” It all started in the 1st, as Bubba hit a little cue shot toward third, where Nick Madrigal tried to catch Jonah Heim a little off the bag, but failed; Madrigal then attempted to get Thompson – who was already at the bag by the time the ball was halfway across the diamond – and sailed the throw, enabling Heim to score while moving everyone up 90 feet. Those two runners ended up scoring on a Marcus Semien double.
One of those runners was Travis Jankowski, who was added at the very last minute to the Opening Day roster because of his outfield experience, but who wasn’t expected to add much offensively. In Spring, Jankowski went 9-for-43, with nothing hit hard, seeming lost at the plate. On Sunday, again, getting his first start of the year, the 32-year old went 2-for-3, with a double, a walk and an RBI.
Jankowski and Thompson might not be the most glamorous names off of the bench for Bochy, but their production in a game where the team is trying to avoid being swept should be celebrated. And maybe, just maybe, Thompson’s electricity today can keep him up in Arlington when Leody Taveras is eligible to come back to the Major League roster.
The pitching continues
All three starting pitchers – Eovaldi, Perez and Gray – did great jobs at keeping their team in the game. Each only allowed two runs, threw right around the 90 pitch mark and hit at least the fifth inning. For their second outings of the season, that’s pretty good and just what Texas was hoping for.
Eovaldi and Gray continuing to look healthy while pitching is a very good sign, and Perez staying consistent while fresh off of his stellar All-Star campaign last year provides the necessary encouragement.
After a near flawless homestand, it was the bullpen that faltered slightly on Saturday, as Ian Kennedy and Taylor Hearn each allowed runs to be scored off of them. Hearn, in particular, got hit hard in the error-filled second game and was tagged with four runs. But outside of the anomaly that was Saturday’s game, the bullpen continued to put up great numbers.
Cole Ragans and Kennedy threw 2 ⅓ innings of scoreless ball in the series opener. Meanwhile, Will Smith, Ragans, and Jose Leclerc shut down the Cubs in the finale.
Despite consecutive series losses, Texas sits tied for first right now with the Angels atop the American League West. While you can’t expect to be involved in winning baseball by taking one of every three games, the Rangers are showing that they can put things together to play entertaining, competitive and winning baseball.
At this point, it’s just a matter of getting the timing right so that everything offensively clicks for them while the pitching continues to do the job.
They also should try to avoid committing five errors in a game.
Do you think the offense will improve for Texas? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.