Texas Rangers: 3 Takeaways From The 7-1 Loss to Brewers

The Texas Rangers traveled a couple miles up the road to take on the Milwaukee Brewers in Phoenix Saturday afternoon.  Chi Chi Gonzalez made his second start of the spring, pitching three strong innings. Unfortunately a rough 5th inning for Yohander Mendez spelled doom for the Rangers as they  fall 7-1 to the Brewers dropping their record to a Cactus League worst, 2-7. At least we get this catch by Jared Hoying.

Three Takeaways

• Chi Chi Gonzalez certainly has a chance to win the final spot in the rotation – With A.J.  Griffin struggling in his first two Spring Training appearances, Chi Chi has firmly inserted himself into the conversation. Chi Chi gave up his first run of the Spring but finished with three innings pitched, three hits allowed, three strikeouts and only one run given up. In five Spring Training innings Chi Chi has only allowed four hits and has struck out five.
• Jeremy Jeffress dazzles in his Spring Debut – Off the field issues put a damper on his stellar performance in his short stint with the Rangers a season ago. Jeffress hopes to put those issues behind him in 2017 and let his play do the talking. Jeffress struck out two of the three batters he faced in his first appearance of the spring.
• Is Joey Gallo finally figuring it out? – Despite going 0-3 in today’s game and hitting .125 early on, Gallo has put together some encouraging at-bats this spring. After hitting a moonshot home run in yesterday’s game, Gallo hit sharp line-outs in his first two at-bats today followed by a towering fly out that he barely got under. While the numbers don’t show it just yet, Gallo has been making the contact the Rangers have been looking for early on.

The Rangers take on the defending champion, Chicago Cubs Sunday afternoon. Jon Lester will make his first appearance of the spring for the Cubs going against Nick Martinez for the Rangers.