Texas Rangers Best Rockies in Opening Day Pitching Duel

Game One in the history of Globe Life Field is in the books and the Texas Rangers put one in the win column knocking off the Colorado Rockies.

If you became accustomed to the fireworks regularly seen in Texas Rangers’ games at Globe Life Park, games at newly minted Globe Life Field may call for some adjustment of expectations. The first game inside the Rangers’ new home is in the books and was every part of a pitchers’ duel with the Rangers coming out on top, 1-0 over the Rockies.

Lance Lynn was handed the ball on Opening Day for the Rangers this season and picked up not far from where he left off in the final day of the 2019 season. Lynn ground through a six inning outing where he held the Rockies to just two hits and struck out nine. Lynn struggled a bit with command  on the night issuing four walks but was able to keep the Rockies off balance at the plate on the way to his first win of the season.

Texas’ bullpen kept up the shutout started by Lynn with a trio of Rangers’ relievers holding the Rockies bats quiet in the contest. Jesse Chavez pitched the seventh inning for Texas and held Colorado without a baserunner. An item of note, young reliever Jonathan Hernandez got the call for the eighth inning, a signal of significant trust in the 24-year old who had under 17 innings of big league ball prior to his appearance.

The door was slammed shut by Jose Leclerc who picks up his first save of the year in his first opportunity. Leclerc provided a little bit of stress for Texas allowing a baserunner to open the inning on a four-pitch walk. The hard-throwing righty rebounded though with a pair of strikeouts before getting Matt Kemp to pop out and securing the first win in the history of Globe Life Field.

Rougned Odor delivered the Rangers’ lone run of the evening with his two-out double in the sixth inning that drove in Danny Santana who had provided the club’s first hit of the night just a couple of batters prior. As a whole, offense was hard to come by for Texas who were no-hit partway into the sixth inning by Rockies’ starter German Marquez. On the night, the Rangers totaled three hits, equal to that of the Rockies, and benefitted from an error by the visitors.

Rangers’ Quick Hits

• Leody Taveras made his Major League debut as a defensive substitution in the ninth inning
• Chuck Morgan and Michael Gruber were the focus of a lot of online praise for their work on maintaining the sounds of Rangers’ baseball including piped in fan noises
• The Texas Rangers are the only team in the league to have never lost at their home ballpark

Game Two Details

The Rangers and Rockies will square off for Game Two of their three-game series on Saturday afternoon. Mike Minor is set to make his first start of the season facing Rockies’ right-hander Jon Gray. First pitch is set for 3:05 CT.