Rangers Edge Opponent 4-3: Key Takeaways and Game Analysis
Rangers 4, Marlins 3
That was a good way to begin a long road journey.
About a month ago, Kumar Rocker had the finest outing of his career in Colorado, throwing 7.2 shutout innings and striking out seven after coming in behind an opener. I firmly predicted the Rangers would do that again his next time out.
But the Rangers didn’t do that the next time around. Rocker was quite good in his next four outings, then got hammered last week vs. the Twins, giving up seven runs, two in the first.
Skip Schumaker went to the opener well again with Tyler Alexander pitching the first inning and Rocker following him. Rocker had a 9.69 ERA in the first inning of games heading into his start against Miami, compared to a 2.89 ERA in all other innings.
It was a success, we can say that safely.
Alexander had a quiet 1-2-3 first, Kumar Rocker pitched innings two through six, and he pitched them well.
Rocker saw 19 batters. He threw 16 of 19 first-pitch strikes. He fanned 9 of the 19. He did not allow any walks, and surrendered only two strongly hit balls.
Rocker’s slider has been his money pitch for a while, and he had it operating to perfection Monday against the Marlins. He threw 39 sliders with 23 swings and 3 called strikes. Seventeen of 23 swings against the slider were whiffs, a fantastic 74% swing-and-miss percentage on the pitch.
That’s the most whiffs off a slider by a major league pitcher this season. Dylan Cease and Tatsuya Imai are next, at 15.
Rocker threw mostly sliders and cutters, tossing his sinker and fastball just 18 times total and not throwing the changeup at all. His two pitch blend worked.
The Marlins did get two runs off Rocker. One was on a g.o-w.p-sac fly sequence with a single-advance. The other came in the sixth when Otto Lopez doubled with one out and scored on a Xavier Edwards triple. Alejandro Osuna had some troubles fielding the ball in left field and Edwards nearly had an inside-the-park homer but was thrown out at home.
Overall, it was a great game for Rocker. Okay, yes, two runs in five innings isn’t fantastic, but if he pitches like he did in this game every time out, the Rangers will be in terrific shape.
W’s for pitchers are old and not very relevant anyhow. The Rangers didn’t take the lead until after Rocker exited the game, therefore he didn’t win the W.Robby Ahlstrom had an 8 pitch, 1-2-3 7th and did get the W. It is his second career win, the first came retroactively, also in relief of Rocker, in the game where Rocker was pulled with two outs in the fifth and the official scorer first handed the win to Latz. That was later modified to a win for Ahlstrom and a save for Latz.
On Latz, he was again called on for a save of over three outs, coming in with a two run lead and two outs in the eighth in relief of Jakob Junis. Latz gave up a double that scored a run and put the tying and go-ahead runs at second and third.
I was scared. I will confess. Alright. You can say you were nervous, too.
But a walk and a groundout followed, Latz closed the door in the ninth and there was rejoicing in Miami.
Just, you know, not for the Miami supporters.
It was another game when the Rangers should have scored more runs than they did. A lot of baserunners, a homer and a couple of doubles…there should have been more than four runs to cross the plate, right?
Ezequiel Duran, who entered the game in a 3 for 30 skid, homered off [pitcher’s name]. He had to.
Brandon Nimmo went 3 for 3 with a walk and we like that.
In the fourth, Alejandro Osuna was gunned down at home trying to score on a two out Elias Diaz single. I believed he should have been safe because the Marlins catcher blocked the plate, but what do I know.
Texas is back to two games under .500, and a game out of WC3. Wild Card Fever…Get it!
Tyler Alexander’s sinker hit a high of 91.7 mph. Kumar Rocker averaged 94.2 mph on the sinker, maxing out at 95.9 mph. The fastball for Robby Ahlstrom touched 95.1 mph. Jakob Junis’ sinker was 93.3 mph. Jacob Latz hit 96.6 on the radar with his fastball.
Jake Burger ground out at 111.4 mph. Elias Diaz recorded a ground out at 109.3 mph. Brandon Nimmo had a 107.5 mph single, 105.8 mph double and 101.6 mph single. Alejandro Osuna had a 106.6-mph double.Joc Pederson singled 104.7 mph. Ezequiel Duran: 103.4 mph homer, 100.7 mph GIDP.Wyatt Langford’s 102.5mph groundout.
One down, nine more to go.
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