ARLINGTON, Texas — While the weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles didn’t end in complete success for the Texas Rangers, there’s no denying that they made a declaration during a hard fought series against one of the few teams with a better record than them.
When the final out was recorded on Sunday, the Rangers had taken two of three from the American League Wild Card leading Orioles, a team in second place in the AL East and with the second best record in baseball.
What did go right for Texas included more fireworks from the bats, more sterling efforts from the starting staff, and even an impromptu starting pitching change that didn’t end in disaster. In addition, the oft-maligned bullpen held up for the most part, with Sunday’s ending a turn for the better despite another loss for the relievers.
It was a well-played series against a good baseball team and the Texas Rangers were able to step up to the challenge.
- Game 50: Texas 12, Baltimore 2 (W: Gray, 5-1, L: Rodriguez, 2-2)
- Game 51: Texas 5, Baltimore 3 (W: Heaney, 4-3, L: Kremer, 5-2)
- Game 52: Texas 2, Baltimore 3 (W: Coulombe, 2-1, L: Ragans, 2-2, Sv: Bautista, 13)
Friday night outburst
After starting the season as the league’s most prolific offense, the Rangers’ lineup is expected to score runs, and score runs they did in the opener. The bulk of the production came in the fourth inning, as Texas put up an 8-spot against the Orioles.
Corey Seager had the loudest hit during the onslaught, launching a grand slam as the inning snowballed very quickly on O’s starter Grayson Rodriguez. The final score ended up being 12-2, and with that 8-run inning, the Rangers continued to pad their lead at putting up round numbers. The Rangers now lead the league in the following:
- Double-digit runs in a game: 13. The next closest are the Chicago Cubs at 8.
- 4-Run innings: 27. The next closest are the Colorado Rockies with 18.
- 5-Run or more innings: 15. The next closest are the Tampa Bay Rays with 11.
After the opener, the Rangers overtook the Tampa Bay Rays for the league lead in run differential which now sits at +123. In addition, at 33-19, the Rangers are currently enjoying the best start through the first third of a season in franchise history.
Duran down
Texas were finally forced to make a decision with Ezequiel Duran over the weekend. Duran came out of the game in Pittsburgh earlier this week after experiencing a sore rib cage. He was listed as day-to-day until Saturday when the 24-year old was officially placed on the 10-day injured list with oblique tightness.
Duran made the most of the playing time during the time that Seager missed over the last month as he worked his way into the everyday lineup at shortstop. On the year, Duran was slashing .301/.340/.515 with seven homers and 23 RBI. Since Seager returned, Duran had been in the lineup at designated hitter and also at shortstop while Seager ramps back up to full-time shortstop duties, with appearances in the outfield expected.
Now, however, Travis Jankowski has returned from his own injury and takes Duran’s place on the roster and in the lineup. In 25 games for Texas before he went down, Jankowski was slashing .309/.382/.412, playing all across the outfield. The Rangers are banking on Jankowski getting back to that form to help fill in for Duran.
Redemption for Bradford
Cody Bradford’s MLB debut against the Atlanta Braves earlier this month didn’t go at all how he would have dreamt it up. The Aledo, TX native went five innings, but gave up seven hits and six earned runs against the National League East leaders. With Dane Dunning’s wife giving birth on Thursday, Dunning was placed on the paternity list and Bradford asked to have a second cup of coffee in The Show.
This time, he made the most of it.
In the early afternoon start on Sunday, Bradford appeared to be headed toward the same fate as his debut after running into trouble in the first inning. Through just five hitters into the finale, it was already 2-0 Baltimore with a dropped Cedric Mullins popup on the first pitch of the game by Seager representing a bad omen. This time, though, Bradford was able to minimize the damage as he got a big double play to escape the inning, giving up just those two runs, before buckling down throughout the rest of his outing.
All in all, Bradford went five again, but this time he allowed just the two runs while striking out five and scattering five hits. It was a pretty good rebound effort from the rookie; unfortunately, and similarly to Bradford’s debut outing, the offense just wasn’t present to support him much, though this time the two Texas runs were enough to help Bradford avoid a loss on his ledger.
Bullpen avoids implosion
Yes, the bullpen gave up runs in each appearance during this three-game set, and you wouldn’t exactly call them good this weekend. But they also didn’t experience any meltdowns to waste the efforts of the starters, so call it baby steps.
On Thursday, the bullpen allowed a run in a game that the Rangers were already winning by double digits. On Saturday, closer Will Smith, three days after being asked to log a five-out save, gave up two runs with a 5-1 lead in the ninth to get the adrenaline flowing a little before he shut things down in the victory that clinched the series for Texas.
On Sunday, however, the bullpen bugaboo finally reared its head. After Josh Sborz took over for Bradford at the start of the 6th inning and retired the side in order, Cole Ragans came on for the first time in eight days. While he got out of the 7th inning unscathed after a walk, the former first-round draft pick was asked to go another inning with the top of the Baltimore lineup bearing down.
It was a big ask for Ragans, especially after Texas had tied the game at two apiece in the 8th. Ragans walked Mullins before Adley Rutschman singled and Ragans was removed in favor of Joe Barlow, who immediately gave up the go-ahead run to the first batter he faced. Barlow and John King then wiggled out of trouble to keep it a one run game.
For the season, the Rangers’ bullpen has allowed 35% of inherited runners to score – 25 out of 79 men on base. For perspective, that’s exactly the league average, with the Boston Red Sox ranking highest with 47% of inherited runners scoring, and the Cleveland Guardians allowing just 22% to score.
By no means is anyone ready to say the bullpen is back on track, but for at least one series, it wasn’t as bad as it has been.
Do you think the Rangers have proven that they can hang with the league’s best? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
