Thoughts on an 8-3 Rangers win

Rangers 8, Angels 3

• The Rangers are back above .500.
• Holla.
• This was an instance where it wasn’t feeling real “winny” for much of the game, and seemed to be heading towards another home defeat to a bad team.
• Until it didn’t.
• Jacob deGrom wasn’t all that deGrommy on Tuesday, getting “just” 13 swings and misses and getting lifted after five innings and 80 pitches.
• It turns out he had a hip issue that was bothering him, which prompted the early removal, and likely contributed to his not quite having his A game. He is saying he expects to make his next start on Sunday — the final game before the All Star Game — and hopefully that’s the case.
• The Rangers as a whole are dealing with Dane Dunning Syndrome this year, but deGrom is being hit especially hard. He allowed two runs in his start, both of which came in the first inning.
• Almost half the runs deGrom has allowed this season — 19 of 39 — have come in the first inning. Half of the extra base hits he’s given up — 14 of 28 — have been in the first inning. Opponents are hitting .308/.365/.692 against deGrom in the first inning.
• I can’t tell you what opponents are hitting off of deGrom from the second inning on because that would require way more math than I feel like doing this morning.
• After the first, deGrom was quite alright, only allowing one Angel as far as second base, in the second, when a leadoff Zach Neto walk and an infield single by Denzer Guzman on a ball Ezequiel Duran, playing third, should have had an out on, but looked to second prior to throwing (late) to first, putting two on with one out, though deGrom had no issues retiring the next two batters.
• deGrom had 7 strikeouts in the game, moving him past Kenny Rogers, Bob Welch and Aaron Nola for 101st on the all time strikeout list, with 1973, though Nola, who has 1970 Ks currently, will likely pass deGrom when Nola makes his next start later this week.
• deGrom should, hopefully, move up to 97th place in his next start, which would involve him passing Nola (if Nola gets ahead of him), Al Leiter (1974), Livan Hernandez (1976), and John Clarkson and Ervin Santana (1978).
• Cole Winn, Chris Martin, Peyton Gray and Tyler Alexander each pitched an inning to finish things out. Alexander was able to pitch the ninth due to an offensive eruption in the eighth, which turned a tie game into a blowout.
• I saw some criticism of Skip Schumaker using Martin in a tie game in the seventh, but you know, its really just a byproduct of the current state of the bullpen. Assuming Peyton Gray and Jacob Latz were going to pitch the eighth and ninth, your options were asking Winn (who lowered his ERA on the year to 6.39 with a scoreless inning) to pitch a second inning, or else turn to Gavin Collyer, Robby Ahlstrom, Ben Peoples, Alexander, or Martin.
• There’s not a really great option in that situation. And that’s not even getting into the fact that the Rangers’ current eighth inning guy is Peyton Gray.
• Martin allowed an Oswald Peraza single to start the seventh, with Peraza then stealing second base and scoring on Wade Meckler’s single, which appeared to set the stage for Martin to don the goat horns, even after a Logan O’Hoppe GIDP and a Zach Neto pop out ended the inning with no more runs scoring.
• Jose Soriano, who started the year by allowing one run, total, in his first six starts and then crashed back down to earth, having a 5.34 in his 12 starts prior to Tuesday, had one bad inning, issuing a pair of walks to Evan Carter and Alejandro Osuna before giving up a two run single to offensive catalyst Nicky Lopez. Soriano allowed just two baserunners otherwise, and it was with much relief that we saw a reliever come into the game for the Angels to start the seventh.
• Justin Foscue, pinch hitting for Evan Carter against Tayler Saucedo to lead off the inning, worked the count full, and on the eighth pitch of the at bat sent a missile into the left field seats to tie the game.
• Things were broken wide open in the eighth. Josh Smith and Jake Burger started the inning off with singles, and advanced on a Brandon Nimmo groundout. Ezequiel Duran gave the Rangers the lead with a single, putting runners on the corners, with Justin Foscue following up with a run scoring single. Alejandro Osuna then ruined Jacob Latz’s opportunity to add on to his save total by yanking a ball down the line in right field and into the seats for a three run homer.
• There was just one out, not two, but I’ll take it.
• With the Mariners losing, the Rangers are now a half-game back in the American League West. They hold the WC3 spot, a game and a half up on the Astros and Twins and 3.5 games up on the Jays. They are also just a half game back of the Guardians for WC2, for what it is worth.
• Jacob deGrom hit 99.3 mph with his fastball, averaging 97.7 mph. Cole Winn hit 95.9 mph with his fastball. Chris Martin touched 95.0 mph with his fastball. Peyton Gray’s fastball maxed out at 94.2 mph. Tyler Alexander touched 92.3 mph with his fastball.
• Justin Foscue had a 111.0 mph home run. Elias Diaz had a 108.0 mph single and a 106.3 mph single. Ezequiel Duran had a 104.6 mph single and a 103.4 mph groundout. Alejandro Osuna had a 102.0 mph home run. Joc Pederson had a 100.5 mph fly out.
• Five games to go before the All Star Break.