5 things we learned on this Texas Rangers road trip

The complete turnaround of the Rangers pitching staff since the trade deadline

Texas now has an 10-2 record since the trade deadline. They went 4-2 on this just-completed road trip mainly being led by their dominant starting pitching staff and bullpen. In these last six games the only starter to not go at least six innings was Andrew Heaney. He went 1 1/3 innings on Saturday night and was pulled early as Bochy said he had been dealing with an illness earlier in the week. The starting staff has combined in these six games to pitch 34 1/3 innings, gave up just eight runs, struck out 32 batters, and walked just eight.

The most important start of the road trip belonged to Jon Gray. He had a rough July in which his era was 5.48 ERA for the month. He struggled in his first start in August giving up five runs to the Miami Marlins. I even wrote about how needed to pick it up or potentially be sent to the bullpen when Nathan Eovaldi returns. Friday Gray had maybe his best start since his complete-game loss against the Cardinals back in June. Gray on Friday night responded by pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out seven . and walked none.

This starting staff is once again leading the way for Texas and giving the team a chance to win in every single game they play. That is the formula this team used in the first 60 games that helped them race out to a 40-20 start. It appears that is the formula they are once again using to hopefully be able to hold off Houston and win this division.

Next: A 2022 trade finally paying off late in 2023