M’s 5, Rangers 3
M’s 5, Rangers 3
- Quite a frustrating night.
- The pitchers were okay, but not good enough. The bats were okay, but not good enough.
- Jacob deGrom did not have his command, making for a very mortal showing. deGrom allowed a pair of home runs in the first two innings, one where he badly missed his spot to Jorge Polanco, one where he seemingly hit his spot on an 0-2 fastball up in the zone to Rowdy Tellez and Tellez was able to go and get it.
- deGrom allowed a third run in the fourth inning when he issued a two out walk to number eight hitter Leo Rivas — the second time he’d walked Rivas — after which Rivas stole second and scored on a J.P. Crawford single.
- deGrom needed 87 pitches to go four innings, and although he missed a lot of bats — he generated 16 swings and misses — he also walked four batters, and needed 87 pitches to get through four innings, cutting his night short.
- Marc Church and Hoby Milner handled the fifth and sixth, with Milner starting the seventh and getting the first two batters before being lifted for Chris Martin, who got the final out of the seventh.
- Unfortunately, things went south for Martin at the start of the eighth. A leadoff single to Polanco was followed by a home run from Cal Raleigh, and a 3-3 tie became a 5-3 deficit for the Rangers.
- The bats only put up three runs, although the silver lining is that they did have more baserunners than we’ve seen in some other games where they had a relatively low run total. Josh Jung drove in all three runs, with one coming in the fourth, when he drove in Adolis Garcia, who had walked and stolen second base, with a single. The other two came on a two out, two run home run in the sixth, on the heels of Joc Pederson’s two on, no out GIDP.
- There were eight hits and three walks in all, plus an HBP, so there was traffic. There were three doubles — one apiece from Josh Smith, Marcus Semien and Adolis Garcia — to go with the Jung home run, so there was some power on display. Texas just didn’t cash in on the opportunities. They hit into a pair of double plays, were 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position, and ended up stranding runners.
- Texas had opportunities. The game started with Bryce Miller laboring in the first, with the bases getting loaded due to a pair of walks and a bunt single, but no runs coming across. After Jung’s RBI single in the fourth, he stole second base, putting a runner in scoring position with one out, but was stranded there. Marcus Semien doubled with one out the seventh but couldn’t get home. Adolis Garcia led off the eighth with a double but was ultimately stranded at third. Jonah Heim led off the ninth with a single, but a Dustin Harris pinch hit seven pitch K (he was pinch hitting for Kevin Pillar, who had previously pinch hit for Leody Taveras) was followed by a game-ending 4-3 GIDP by Marcus Semien.
- I feel a little better about things, though, when there’s ducks on the pond that don’t get cashed in than when there’s few ducks on the pond at all. It bodes better for the future if you are getting baserunners, since over time, that will pay off.
- Jacob deGrom maxed out at 97.6 mph, averaging 96.3 mph. Marc Church hit 97.8 mph. Hoby Milner topped out at 86.6 mph with his fastball. Chris Martin threw one fastball that was 93.7 mph.
- Adolis Garcia had a 107.9 mph double and a 102.4 mph fly out. Jonah Heim had a 102.2 mph single. Josh Jung’s home run was 101.0 mph. Corey Seager had a 100.6 mph fly out.
- Still in first place, at least. Maybe they can end the losing streak at one.