Rangers Dodge Sweep At Home Against Athletics: 3 Takeaways

The Rangers were able to avoid a sweep for the second straight series winning the final game against the Athletics and we take a look at the takeaways.

After losing the first two games of the series for the second series in a row, Texas was able to avoid the sweep winning the third game. Another series of ups and downs gives us our latest edition of 3 Takeaways.

The Bullpen Finally Reappeared

After a  string of dismal relief outings by a number of bullpen pitchers, what seemed a bright spot for this team was quickly falling apart. Finally, in the final two games of the series, they seemed to have bounced back. In games two and three of the series, the bullpen combined for 7 innings and allowed just one run. Although they lost game two, the bullpen was able to keep the game close and gave the offense a chance to win the game. In game three, the bullpen came in with the Rangers trailing by a run but were able to hold Oakland scoreless through the final 4.1 innings and Texas came back to win. Jesse Chavez picked up the win for the Rangers in the game and Keone Kela got the save striking out 2 in the 9th.

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Isiah Kiner-Falefa Is Still Going Strong

Isiah Kiner-Falefa got the call up when Rougned Odor went down with an injury and made a start at third last night in place of the injured Adrian Beltre. Kiner-Falefa has heated up at the plate and has a hit in 9 of the 14 games he’s been with the big league club. While his numbers aren’t outrageous, he’s been a breath of fresh air in a pretty crappy start to the year. Currently he’s hitting .277 and had a hit in two of the three games against the A’s. Although he’s not considered a top prospect, he’s proof of the benefits of taking time to develop young players. With Odor out still and Beltre on the 10-day DL, we’ll get to keep watching the young infielder for at least a couple of weeks.

When Do We See Calhoun?

With Beltre going down with an injury, many hoped that we’d see the long awaited promotion of left fielder, Willie Calhoun. The Rangers however, decided to bring Ryan Rua back up in place of Adrian Beltre. With Texas struggling to win just a game, much less a series, it’s likely we’ll see Calhoun in the next couple of weeks. If he’s ready defensively, there’s not much of a reason to keep him in Triple-A Round Rock instead of getting him more Major League experience.