DALLAS — The Texas Rangers completed their first multi-series road trip of the season with a 5-1 record after taking the series against the Houston Astros and then pulling off a sweep of the Kansas City Royals.
Now with the second best record in the American League at 12-6, the Rangers are off to their best start in a decade. Here’s a look back at the series victory in Kansas City that helped Texas grow their lead in the AL West:
Jacob deGone?
The series didn’t start out as comfortable as it ended as the entire Metroplex held its breath when Jacob deGrom did not come back out to the mound in the 5th inning of the opener against the Royals despite only throwing 58 pitches while flirting with a no-hitter.
Instead of Texas’ free agent signee ace, it was the bespectacled Dane Dunning that made his way to the mound. The mercurial starter appeared to have aggravated something during a walk in the 4th to Vinnie Pasquantino.
It was later revealed that deGrom was fighting through soreness in his right wrist and had removed himself as a precaution. After tossing a bullpen on Wednesday, deGrom declared himself fit to make his next start.
This appears to be what life will be like with deGrom. He will be brilliant when he pitches but there will be tweaks and ailments that could spring up at any moment. Expect the Rangers to continue to use an abundance of caution with their ace as they try to keep him on the mound.
Dunning gets it done
After deGrom left following four no-hitter innings, Dunning was asked to do the heavy lifting out of the bullpen to finish off the win. What Dunning accomplished in that short-notice relief appearance should not be underappreciated.
Depending on how the season goes, Dunning’s one-hit performance, albeit against the Royals, might be one of the key appearances of the year for the Rangers’ pitching staff as he saved Texas from having to filter through the breadth of the bullpen in the series opener.
Dunning, wielding a cutter/slider combo allowed the lone hit to Matt Duffy – the second batter he faced – and that was it. He made early-inning home runs from Josh Jung and Marcus Semien stand up over the 4 ⅓ innings that followed deGrom while striking out five.
The righty ran out of gas in the 9th and was replaced by Jose Leclerc to get the final two outs of the game but it was a truly wonderful performance as Dunning came to the rescue.
Jimmy Jacks
With two on Tuesday and one in the finale, the Rangers now lead baseball with eight three-run home runs. The two in the second game of the series came off the bats of the now scalding hot Marcus Semien and Adolis Garcia. In Wednesday’s finale, the bolt came from Jonah Heim. Remarkably, Texas’ eight three-run home runs equals their number of solo shots so far this season.
Semien’s blast on Tuesday was part of a barrage of seven straight hits to start the inning. The second baseman’s homer was the fourth of those hits, and turned a 5-2 game into an 8-2 lead in a game that Texas would eventually win 12-2.
Over the six games during the road trip, Semien went 11-for-27 (.407) with 11 RBI, 10 runs (including his 700th career run), five walks and three homers. For a guy who started slowly in his first season with Texas last year, it seems as though Semien is much more comfortable with the Rangers this April.
Righting the ship
After a disastrous previous outing against Kansas City in Arlington, where he went five innings and gave up ten hits and six runs, Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi came through with a better game plan against the Royals in Tuesday’s victory.
After the game, in which he gave up just two runs on seven hits in his six innings of work, Eovaldi cited a great game called by backup catcher Sandy Leon. Leon, who was recalled when Mitch Garver hit the injured list last week, also caught Eovaldi during their time in Boston.
On Wednesday, Martin Perez didn’t necessarily right the ship in terms of efficiency, but he did make his 34th straight start of at least five innings. He did that by initiating contact – in a game where he struck out three and walked nobody in 5 ⅔ IP.
Perez still gave up eight hits, most of which were scattered. In the 6th, however, Perez ran into some harder hit balls with three sharp singles to the outfield ending his day. Until two runs scored in the bottom of the 6th, Perez was doing great at limiting damage. Luckily for him, the Rangers scored 12 runs again and he picked up his third win of the season.
Centerfielder Leody Taveras, who had been struggling with just two hits since he was activated from the injured list, used the finale in Kansas City to break out as he was a home run shy of the cycle while driving in two and scoring twice.
A decade in the making
Texas hasn’t had a 12-6 record to start a season since 2013. That was the last full season of Ron Washington’s tenure as manager in Texas. 2013 was a year in which A.J. Pierzynski and Lance Berkman were prominent free agent signings and Yu Darvish and Derek Holland fronted the rotation.
That team finished second to Oakland in the AL West with a 91-72 record before succumbing to the Tampa Bay Rays in a play-in game for the AL’s Wild Card spot.
With more avenues to reach the playoffs these days, the Rangers would almost certainly take a 91-win season now a decade later. Perhaps Texas has their sights set higher, however. The 2023 edition sits atop the American League West with a 3 game lead over second place Los Angeles.
Do you think the 2023 Rangers will finish with a better record than their 2013 counterparts? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.