Texas Rangers: Lack of pitch control to blame during ugly loss to Houston

Brett de Geus

Brett de Geus worked out of the Benjamin-induced jam in the second inning, but started displaying his own respective control issues in the third. He ended up walking two hitters in just 0.1 innings of work, allowing four earned runs to cross the plate before being relieved by Yang.

With 2021 being his first season in the Major Leagues, hopes were on the higher side of things when it came to de Gues’ role in the Texas Rangers bullpen. Thus far, the results haven’t been the best.

The right-hander has a 6.75 ERA across 17.1 innings of work, having already hit four batters to go along with his ten issued walks.

Specifically on Friday night, we saw an overall inability to consistently hit his spots really plague him on the mound. 13 of his 25 pitches were thrown for balls, and when he was finding the zone, the Astros were obviously having no problems making contact with the ball and putting it into play.

The Texas Rangers coaching staff has repeatedly emphasized the importance of avoiding walks this season, a message that clearly didn’t resonate with the likes of Benjamin and de Geus during their brief appearances on Friday night.

Five total walks through the first 2.0 innings is always going to be tough to navigate around.