Texas Rangers Win Second in a Row at Seattle: One Big Takeaway

The Texas Rangers were able to pick up another win in Seattle and seem to be moving in a positive direction over the past week.

The Rangers seem to be moving in a positive direction over the past week or so and were able to pick up a second straight win in Seattle on Wednesday. Texas won the game 7-6 despite a shaky start from Matt Moore and moved to 24-34 on the year. Here’s our one big takeaway from Wednesday’s game.

Jose Leclerc Is Good At This Reliever Thing

As the self-professed head of the Jose Leclerc bandwagon I couldn’t not highlight his performance last night. Leclerc entered the game in the 7th inning, leading 7-5 and put forth a masterful performance. Jose entered the game and did exactly his job which was to keep Seattle from cutting into the lead. In his lone inning of work. Leclerc struck out all three batters he faced keeping it a two-run game for Claudio in the 8th.

This isn’t just a flash in the pan but has been a theme throughout the season. Leclerc has appeared in 19 games, throwing 19 innings. In that time he’s allowed just 7 hits and and 4 earned runs. Now he has allowed 6 unearned runs but 4 of those came in his outing against the White Sox on May 17th. This season though, Leclerc has an impressive 1.89 ERA and 23 strikeouts. Now some of the numbers aren’t great, such as the 10 runs total given up or the 12 walks or the 2 blown saves. However, when you look at the big picture of his season, Leclerc has been arguably our most consistent reliever which should have Rangers fans excited about what he can bring to the team moving forward.

Recap

The Mariners scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the third inning off an RBI double by Mitch Haniger. Texas followed that up with two runs in the top half of the fourth with both Profar and Gallo driving in runs. Three runs by Seattle in the bottom half of the inning saw Texas lose their lead and they wouldn’t regain it until a four run seventh inning that saw them take a 7-5 lead. Keone Kela would give up one run in the ninth but he was able to keep the Mariners at bay and secure another Rangers win.

Notables

Nelson Cruz (SEA) 3-5, 2B, RBI

Mike Zunino (SEA) 2-3, 2 R, BB

Nomar Mazara (TEX) 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI

Robinson Chirinos (TEX) 3-5 2B, 3 RBI

WP: Tony Barnette (1-0) .2 IP, 0 ER, 2 H

LP: Mike Rzepczynski (0-1) 0 IP, 2 ER, 2 BB

SV: Keone Kela (12) 1 IP, 1 ER, 1 SO, 1 BB

Next Game

The Rangers and Mariners will play game four of the series tonight with first pitch set for 9:10 CT.