Rangers 5, A’s 1
Rangers 5, A’s 1
- Good news, folks…the Rangers will not be swept by the A’s in the final series played at the Coliseum.
- It wasn’t Cody Bradford’s finest outing, but that’s okay. Bradford needed 90 pitches to record 11 outings, was kind of perpetually in trouble, and issued a season-high three walks. Nonetheless, he allowed just one run, albeit with an assist from Matt Festa, who came in with two outs and the bases loaded in the fourth and retired Seth Brown.
- The A’s stranded 13 runners in the game, which had to be vexing for the home crowd, when they weren’t chanting “Sell the Team” or trying to steal chairs.
- Festa, Andrew Chafin and Jose Leclerc combined for 5.1 innings of scoreless ball, which is fun and exciting and good. The type of thing that puts a spring in your step, some pep in your pepper, some zing in your zizzer.
- The Wyatt Langford September to Remember continued in fine fashion, with a first inning two run homer to give the Rangers a lead they wouldn’t surrender, and that would have been enough even if they didn’t score any more runs. Langford is now slashing .306/.385/.600 for the month, with six homers and five stolen bases. Since coming off the injured list in late May, Langford is slashing .261/.332/.443.
- Adolis Garcia also homered and singled, and has a 947 OPS in his last eight games, as he looks to finish the season on a…well, hard to say a high note, given how poorly the year has gone for him, but at least a good note.
- Marcus Semien had his 1500th career hit. He’s one of 26 active players to have at least 1500 hits. It is 25 if you don’t count Jose Abreu, who has been a free agent since being released by the Astros this summer, and will drop to 24 once the season ends since Charlie Blackmon has announced his retirement.
- Charlie Blackmon is 7th among active players in hits, which I wouldn’t have guessed. Xander Bogaerts is 11th, with 1689 hits, something I wouldn’t have guessed, either. Bogaerts broke in early, hits for good average, doesn’t walk a ton, and doesn’t generally miss time, which is a recipe for racking up a lot of hits. He would seem to have a decent chance of reaching 3000 hits, particularly given he’s under contract for nine more years after this one.
- Justin Foscue, meanwhile, is still stuck on two career hits, after another 0-fer.
- You may recall that Foscue got a single in his second major league plate appearance, hurt himself in that plate appearance, landed on the injured list, and then was activated again in mid-July. In his first plate appearance back, he doubled, starting his career with a .667 batting average.
- Since then Foscue has gone 0 for 39 with two walks. That’s pretty brutal.
- Someone un-hex that man.
- Cody Bradford topped out at 91.2 mph with his fastball, averaging 89.1 mph. Matt Festa’s fastball maxed out at 91.7 mph. Andrew Chafin hit 92.6 mph with his sinker. Jose Leclerc’s fastball touched 96.3 mph.
- Wyatt Langford had a 110.7 mph single. Jonathan Ornelas had a 110.2 mph single. Matt Duffy had a 104.4 mph lineout. Adolis Garcia had a 103.0 mph home run.
- The string continues to be played out. Four more to go in 2024.