Texas Rangers: What We Saw In Series Against Angels

The Texas Rangers finish their series in Anaheim, winning three of their four games. Once again the Rangers find themselves over .500 with a 64-63 record. The Rangers are 10-4 in their last 14 games. The Rangers are now heading to Oakland for a three-game series against the Athletics.

The Texas Rangers are 1.0 game away from a spot in the wild card. The chance of the Rangers making the playoffs is a shot in the dark, however, regardless, they need to continue winning games, even if it’s just playing for pride.

Winning this series is much-needed for the Rangers. Next week they’ll be in Houston and they’ll need as much momentum as possible going into that series as the Rangers are on a mission to retaining the Silver Boot as winning their third straight American League West is no longer a possibility.

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So what did we see in this series? Well, first and foremost we saw the Rangers play hard and not quit. Cole Hamels improved to 9-1, and he’s on a five-game winning streak, which is his highest since 2015 when he won seven straight in a Rangers uniform. Wednesday’s 10-1 loss resulted in the Rangers taking Tyson Ross of the rotation and moving him to the bullpen as his ERA is 7.04 in 46 innings in ten starts this season.

On Wednesday, Andrew Cashner pitched respectably and the Rangers won 7-5 in extra innings, but Alex Claudio got the win, improving to 3-1. Yesterday, Martin Perez made another impactful performance, improving to 9-10, winning his fourth straight game. It’s amazing how Perez was on a four-game losing streak not long ago and he turned it around by winning four straight. In any case, he must keep it up if he’s to convince the Rangers to re-sign him this off-season. In Texas’ 3-0 win last night, Perez pitched a shutout for the first time since April 9th.

Bats had ups and downs. The Rangers were outscored 18-16. The Rangers are currently first in the league in home runs with 200. In this series, the Rangers hit six. 34-for-138, striking out 40 times and leaving a total of 28 runners stranded. However, lucky for the Rangers, it was enough to win the series.

Their series in Oakland begins tonight. Nick Martinez takes the mound. The Rangers need to continue this winning streak. As said before they can’t afford to shift between over and under .500. They need to stay over .500.