Rangers Recap: Pitching Shines In 2-1 Win

The Texas Rangers came out on top in a pitchers duel Wednesday night against division rival, Houston.

On The Mound

Texas Rangers ace, Cole Hamels, shined on the mound Wednesday night as the Rangers picked up a 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros. Hamels, now 3-0 this season, went 6.2 innings in the pitchers’ battle holding the Astros to one run on five hits. Hamels struggled a bit with command early on, hitting the first two batters of the game and walking three overall, but was able to compose his pitching enough to rack up seven strikeouts on the night.

Out of the bullpen, Sam Dyson, Jake Diekman and Shawn Tolleson, “The Chosen Three” (that’s what I’ve decided to call them now), shutdown Houston to pull out the win. Dyson came in to pitch .2 innings after Hamels was pulled and allowed one hit in the three batters he faced while picking up his sixth hold of the year. Diekman replaced Dyson and threw the final two outs of the eighth inning striking out both batters he faced. #TollyTime struck for the second time in as many nights as Tolleson picked up his fifth save of the campaign allowing one hit in the ninth while closing out the game.

At The Plate

In a night that lacked in run scoring, the Texas Rangers had just enough with Rougned Odor blasting a two-run homerun into the “All You Can Eat Seats” in the right field upper deck in the second inning. Odor drove in Ian Desmond who’d reached base on a walk just before Rougie’s at-bat.

In addition to Odor’s homerun, the Texas Rangers had three other extra base hits coming in the form of doubles off the bats of Adrian Beltre, Mitch Moreland and Elvis Andrus.

Nomar Mazara saw his eight game on-base streak come to an end as he failed to reach base Wednesday night against Houston.

Gunning Them Down

Ian Desmond picked up his first career outfield assist when he threw out Jose Altuve trying to stretch a double in the third inning.

Quick Analysis

This game was evidence that the Texas Rangers can win games in multiple fashions. In the past week of baseball they’ve won games with a singular big inning to propel them to victory, stringing together hits and compiling runs over a nine inning stretch, or relying on stellar pitching performances and lockdown relief work to hold off the opponents. The Rangers were outhit tonight 7 to 6 by Houston but Hamels put out another quality start like many we’ve seen from Rangers starters and the bullpen locked it down exactly how you draw it up in the locker room.

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