Texas Rangers Roundup – April 30, 2014

Aug 13, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers relief pitcher Robbie Ross (46) throws during the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Milwaukee won 5-1. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

ARLINGTON, Tex. – The Texas Rangers have lost 2 of a 3-game series against the Oakland Athletics. After tonight’s game the Texas Rangers will have an off day tomorrow and begin a 5-game road trip to Los Angeles Angels (3 G) and Colorado Rockies (2 G). Here is your Rangers Roundup.

TEXAS RANGERS: (15-12, .556)

• After losing to Oakland Athletics (9-3) last night the Texas Rangers are ranked 2nd in A.L. West
• Texas has been a season-high 6 games above .500 TWICE but now sits at 3 games above .500
• The Rangers’ winning percentage ranks 4th and T9th in the American League and MLB, respectively
• Texas Rangers are only 1 of 6 A.L. teams above .500
• Texas’ current record (15-12) is the slowest 27-game start since 2010 (14-13)
• This season is the 4th consecutive April for club to have at least 15 wins

TEXAS TRIPLE:

• Texas is only 1 of 4 teams in the majors that has 3 qualifying batters hitting .307-or-better: Alex Rios (7th, .327), Shin-Soo Choo (9th, .319) and Leonys Martin (15th, .307)
• The trio represent three  of A.L.’s top 15 in batting (oh yeah!)

THE HAT TRICK:

• Shin-Soo Choo entered  Monday’s game to pinch-hit and started in last night’s game at DH
• Choo reached safely in 4 plate appearances last night A.L.-high) with a single, 2 walks and a hit by pitch
• Last night marked the 2nd game of the season with the ‘hat trick’ of at least one hit, walk and hit by pitch (let’s not make this a habit please)
• Shin-Soo Choo ranks among the American League leaders in OBP (2nd, .452), OPS (6th, .952), pitches per plate appearance (6th, 4.49) and batting average (9th, .319)

HOMERLESS:

• In 199 PA’s and 5 straight games the Texas Rangers have not hit a home run (NOT the streak I want)
• This Texas drought is T2nd-longest in the A.L. this season
• Donnie Murphy is the last Texas Ranger to hit a homer, last Wednesday off of Sonny Gray in Oakland
• This is the 6th time for the Rangers to go homerless in at least 5 consecutive games since 1994
• The Texas Rangers is the ONLY team without a player having at least 3 homers entering today’s game
• Texas is 1 of 2 teams in MLB with no players having at least 13 RBI this season
• (Some good news?) Neither the Oakland Athletics nor the Texas Rangers have homered in the first 2 games of the series and there has NEVER been a 3+ game series at this park in which neither team homered (So, maybe we will)

TWO-FOR-FLINCHING:

• Robbie Ross Jr. has not issued a walk in 3 consecutive starts (but has 5 HBP)
• Ross matches the club record (5th time) with 3 consecutive qualifying walkless starts (5.0 IP)
• His streak is 2nd-longest in MLB this season behind San Francisco Giants’ Tim Hudson
• Robbie Ross’ streak spans 19.1 innings and comes after a career-high of 6 wlks on 4/9/14 at Boston Red Sox
• He has not issued a walk in last 84 batters faced
• According to baseball-reference.com, Robbie Ross Jr. is the ONLY pitcher in last 100 YEARS with at least 3 consecutive walkless qualifying starts to have at least 5 hit batters during his streak

Hopefully this catches you up if you’ve been away from Texas Rangers baseball. As always, let me know what you think in the comments below.

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