Texas Rangers: Team Escapes New York With Series Win

The Texas Rangers are leaving New York City with a respectable series-win against the Yankees. They’re now heading to Cleveland for a four-game series against the Tribe. The Rangers are once again over .500 and in second place in the American League West standings. They’re 13 games behind the first-place Astros and are on a two-game winning streak for the first time in a week.

Started out a smooth-sailing afternoon, but finished a hard-fought game for the Texas Rangers. In the first inning, Texas jumped to a 3-0 lead, making it 6-0 in the second, and 7-0 in the fourth. In the fourth, New York all of a sudden cut Texas’ lead to 7-4, eventually making it 7-6 in in the seventh. Texas found a way to prevent New York from inflicting further damage and they came out on top.

Nick Martinez took the mound. He pitched 5.0 innings, allowing six hits, four runs, and striking out three batters, improving to 2-3. He’s on a two-game winning streak for the first time since 2015. In any case, he needs to keep it up.

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Bullpen had to keep New York from pulling a come-from-behind win, and they were able to do so. Ernesto Frieri, Jose Leclerc, Alex Claudio, and Keone Kela each earned a hold. Kela and Leclerc earning the seventh hold, Frieri earned his first, and Claudio earned his sixth. Leclerc’s allowing of two runs on one hit, made things a little more challenging, but it’s okay as Texas took that challenge well.

Matt Bush came in the ninth, hoping to successfully close and avoid his fifth blown save. He allowed one hit, struck out two batters, earning his ninth save this season. Afterwards, pitching forced New York to leave seven stranded on base.

Texas’ bullpen is 22nd in the league in holds with 34 and eleventh in the American League. They’re also tied for 27th in the league in saves with only 12. Defense is third in the league in double plays with 82 and ninth in assists with 746. Pitching’s ERA of 4.22 places them 18th in the league. Pitching is doing okay as of late. In any case, they must keep it up.

Offense finished 8-for-33, striking out eleven times. Their sixth straight game with eight or more strikeouts. Carlos Gomez and Mike Napoli both went hit-less, putting Napoli streak of hit-less games at three. Delino DeShields, Shin-Soo Choo, Adrian Beltre, and Jonathan Lucroy are on two-game hitting streaks now. Elvis Andrus has a hit in seven straight games now, having multiple hits in three of those seven games. Gomez and Rougned Odor both struck out three times. Consequently, Odor is still far from climbing out of his slump. Drew Robinson got his first major-league hit, which was a solo home run.

Offense is fifth in American League in runs scored with 375 and ninth in the league. Regrettably, their last in American League in hits with 607 and third in strikeouts with 685. Offense’s batting average of .241 puts them 28th in the league. In any case, the offense needs to improve.

Cole Hamels is returning to the rotation in game one in Cleveland. He’s 2-0 with a 3.03 ERA. It’s his first game since April 26th. Cleveland was just swept by the Minnesota Twins. Texas needs to win this series and it gets them closer to first place.