Texas Rangers: Rougned Odor Stays Hot in Sweep of Royals

The Texas Rangers won their 5th straight game and swept the Kansas City Royals in a 3-2 win on Wednesday.

Rougned Odor helped lead the way Wednesday as the Texas Rangers finished off a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals. The Rangers, who have now won five straight, held the Royals to six runs total across the three games. Here’s our one big takeaway from Wednesday’s win.

Rougned Odor Stayed Hot and Continued to Show His Improvements

For much of the season Rougned Odor has been the center of much controversy with the Rangers with many fans calling for a demotion to the minors or a benching. He struggled mightily at the plate striking out often without much production. However, he’s seemingly turned it around as of late. Over the last 30 days, dating back to May 22nd, Odor has posted a quality .267 batting average along with a .354 on-base percentage. In fact, in the month of June, Odor has the 3rd highest on-base percentage among regular players at .391. His season on-base percentage is now up to .303 showing he’s made some long-term improvements.

Last night, Rougie stayed hot with another stellar offensive performance including what eventually became the game winning homerun. His 2-3 performance which included a walk was the top showing for the Texas Rangers.

Much of the improvement we’ve seen comes from a noticeable change at the plate for Rougned Odor. His chase-rate has improved as Jared Sandler mentioned in a tweet here.

If these improvements stick around for the long-term, Rougned Odor no doubt can reclaim the confidence once had in him as the second baseman of the future for Texas.

Recap

Much like the first two games of this series, the Rangers were able to jump out to an early lead. Texas scored once in both the first and second innings. Austin Bibens-Dirkx got the start on the mound after Yohander Mendez, was sent to Triple-A Round Rock. Bibens-Dirkx held the Royals to just one run across his 6.2 innings and looked solid all night. Rougned Odor added his insurance run, which proved to be important, in the top of the sixth with a solo homer, just his second of the year. Kansas City was able to get a run back in the bottom half of the ninth but Texas would hold on for the 3-2 win.

Shin-Soo Choo was able to keep his on-base streak alive after a base hit in the top of the first inning.

Notables

Rougned Odor (TEX) 2-3, HR, BB

Shin-Soo Choo (TEX) 1-5, R, 2 K

Hunter Dozier (KC) 2-4, RBI, 2B

WP: Austin Bibens-Dirkx (1-1) 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 0 K, 1 BB

LP: Jakob Junis (5-8) 6 IP, 3 ER, 4 K, 4 BB

SV: Jake Diekman (2) 1 IP, 1 ER, 1 K

Next: How Much Longer Will Cole Hamels Be Around?

Next Game

The Texas Rangers are off on Thursday but will head to Minnesota on Friday to open up a three-game series against the Twins. Texas will send Mike Minor to the mound facing Fernando Romero. First pitch is set for 7:10 CT.