Texas Rangers: Cole Hamels’ Performance Leads To Victory

The Texas Rangers snap their three-game losing streak with a respectable win. Their record is now 40-41 and they’re third in the American League West standings,14.5 games behind the first-place Astros. The All-Star break starts in a week. Texas has two more series during that time. In any case, they must win as many games as possible.

A very good afternoon for the Texas Rangers. What started bad turned good. Chicago quickly took a 2-0 lead in the first, with Texas making 2-1 in the second. In the fifth, Texas made 4-2, making it 6-2 in the sixth. In the seventh, Chicago made it 6-4, signaling a come-from-behind win just like game one. But Texas pulled through in the eighth, increasing their lead to 10-4, and Chicago didn’t threaten after that. Texas’ plus-23 run difference is the highest in the league among teams under .500, according to ESPN Stats and Information.

Cole Hamels took the mound, hoping to bury his bad start in Cleveland. He pitched 6.2 innings, allowing a season-low two hits, two runs, and striking out a season-high six batters, improving to 3-0. For the second straight year, Hamels is 3-0. He’s 3-0 for just the second time in his eleven-year career in the majors. In any case, he must keep it up.

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Alex Claudio pitched the last 2.1 innings, allowing two hits, two runs, and striking out a season-high three batters. Claudio has ten strikeouts in his last ten games, as well as three holds.

Pitching’s ERA of 4.38 places them 16th in the league and ninth in the American League. They’re also 28th in strikeouts with 569. The 16 blown saves is the most in the league. In any case, Texas needs to avoid blowing anymore saves this season. The 36 holds places Texas’ pitching in a tie for 21st. Fielding is in a tie for first in the league in double plays with 88. In any case, pitching and fielding must keep up the good work.

Offense finished 10-for-37, striking out eleven times. So the streak of eight more more strikeouts starts once again. Robinson Chirinos is the only player to go without a hit and his hit-less streak is at two games now. Elvis Andrus has a hit in three straight games, as well as Jonathan Lucroy, and Rougned Odor has a hit in four straight now.  Andrus blasted his 12th homer and Odor his 15th. Odor has homered in two straight.

Carlos Gomez and Mike Napoli’s both have a hit in two straight games. Napoli blasted his 16th homer. Nomar Mazara went 1-for-5 and had an amazing triple in the eighth that helped Texas increase their lead. Former Ranger Derek Holland took the mound for Chicago and he did challenge his former teammates. At one point, Texas had the bases loaded with no outs while Holland was pitching and Holland prevented Texas from taking advantage.

Offense’ 122 homers places them fifth in the league. With 651 hits, they’re 26th, as well fourth in the league in strikeouts with 757. Furthermore, their .240 batting average puts them 28th. Regrettably, offense is still a sinking Titanic. In any case, they need to play better in the second half of baseball in hopes of making a run in the playoffs.