Texas Rangers: 3 takeaways from an ugly four-game sweep in Houston

Well that kinda sucked. The Texas Rangers failed to record a single win during their four-game set against the Houston Astros, getting swept straight out of town in rather commanding fashion.

Needless to say, Astros fans were pretty pumped up about the whole ordeal:

https://twitter.com/astrosCTH/status/1394041215818076171?s=20

Following said brutal sweep, the Rangers are now winless in their last six games, and things aren’t set to get all that much easier with the Yankees up next in the schedule.

Some takeaways from the past four losses:

The Houston Astros are pretty good.

As much as it may pain you to admit it, the Astros are genuinely one of the better teams in baseball at the moment. Today’s win earlier this afternoon puts them seven games above .500, and they’re 8-2 in their last ten.

If it wasn’t for the Athletics’ hot start to the 2021 season, Houston would be sitting rather comfortably atop the American League West.

The Astros have sustained some pretty big losses over the past few seasons, both to their physical roster and to their coaching staff, yet they remain capable of pumping out strong performances.

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Zack Greinke and Lance McCullers Jr. are both very strong top-of-the-rotation arms, and the offense keeps on rolling despite the departure of George Springer this past offseason.

While losing four of four should still be considered unacceptable (the Rangers really should’ve stolen at least one game), it’s worth highlighting the caliber of team they were up against in this specific instance.

Texas Rangers drop 4/4 to the Houston Astros.

The end goal is of course to dethrone the Astros in the AL West one day down the road, but in the meantime, they’re still the top dogs.

Kyle Gibson just keeps on cruising along.

A running theme over the past few weeks, Kyle Gibson put in yet another productive outing during his game four start on Sunday afternoon. He went 7.0 strong innings, only allowing two runs and six total baserunners.

Considering just how well the Astros have been swinging the bat as of late, 7.0 innings of two-run ball should absolutely be commended in this specific instance.

Gibson’s ERA on the season sits at a 2.32, and his WHIP is just a hair over 1.000. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if Gibson continues to pitch at this caliber over the next two months, the Rangers are likely looking at a situation where they’d be getting back a pretty sweet prospect (or two) for the veteran right-hander’s services come the trade deadline.

Contending teams are always willing to overpay for pitching, and Gibson is putting up legit “Ace” numbers. I know the deadline is still a ways away, but it’s something to keep in the back of your mind nevertheless as Gibson continues to keep his ERA in the low 2.00 range.

Like previously stated, life doesn’t get much easier for Texas moving forward as they’re set to take on the Yankees over the course of yet another four-game series. An additional test for this rebuilding Rangers squad.