Texas Rangers Weekly Report 22: Becoming road warriors

Sep 7, 2021; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Texas Rangers catcher Jonah Heim (28) and pitcher Jordan Lyles (24) celebrate after defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-1 at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 7, 2021; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Texas Rangers catcher Jonah Heim (28) and pitcher Jordan Lyles (24) celebrate after defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-1 at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

The Texas Rangers finally are starting to win on the road as the regular season enters the final month. The team won 4 consecutive road games against the Angels and the Diamondbacks.

A.J. Alexy can finally be called a certified “hurler boy” as he threw 5 more shutout innings against the Angels. He’s pitched well enough overall that he could break Chi Chi Gonzalez’s scoreless streak record of 14 innings when he pitches again. At the very least, Alexy has been historically dominant to begin his career.

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On the hitter side, DJ ” Winter Soldier” Peters had a heck of a homecoming in Anaheim, including hitting two home runs in one game against the Angels in what was his best series as a Ranger so far.

I’m not going to do a Who’s Not Hot List this week because the team is on a four-game winning streak and it should be celebrated considering how bad road trips have been this season at times.

Texas Rangers Weekly Report: Who’s Hot

A.J Alexy 

I just want to give a shoutout to the Los Angeles Dodgers for trading A.J. Alexy to the Rangers. He is the type of pitcher we need in the starting rotation. In 6 innings against the Angels, Alexy struck out 7 batters and only allowed one hit.

After the game, Ranger fans can certainly add A.J. Alexy to the opening day 26-man roster for the 2022 team.

DJ Peters

DJ Peters certainly had a great homecoming out in California this past week. Against the Angels on September 5th, the “Winter Soldier” had 2 HR’s 4 hits, and 4 RBI’s. He’s making a strong case to return next season.

Kohei Arihara

Kohei Arihara seemed to look a little better this week against Arizona on Wednesday. In 4 innings he allowed 4 hits, 2 runs and struck out 3 batters.

Hopefully, Arihara gets some more quality starts this month to show the Rangers he should be on the roster next season.

Texas Rangers Lineup on Wednesday

If you can believe it, this lineup made Rangers history during the roadtrip by becoming the first Rangers lineup to get two triples in the same inning since Rougned Odor and Joey Gallo did against the Astros on June 12, 2017. Speed kills!

Nick Solak

Nick Solak also set a Rangers record on Wednesday and it’s a cool one. He had a 16 pitch at-bat and got a single. Apparently, that’s the most pitches in any plate appearance for a Rangers batter since the MLB started tracking it in 1988.

Afterthoughts

With the 20th anniversary of September 11th coming up this weekend, let’s all remember the ones who lost their lives on that tragic day. Let us also remember how the game of baseball brought us all together during that time.

Texas Rangers Upcoming Schedule

September 10-12 at Oakland Athletics

September 13-16 vs Houston Astros