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5 things we learned on this Texas Rangers road trip

Texas may have came up short on Sunday, but that does not mean it was not a successful road trip to the San Francisco Bay.

By Michael Sanders |
Texas Rangers v San Francisco Giants
Texas Rangers v San Francisco Giants / Lachlan Cunningham/GettyImages
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A rookie made a splash, a pitcher that doesn't strike out many batters set a career high, and a closer that has not blown many saves did so and that was just the game on Sunday. The Texas Rangers had an eventful week in the Bay area that included series wins in Oakland and San Francisco. It was a good week that saw them leave Arlington last Sunday with a 2.5 game lead and they come back home still with a 2.5 game lead over the Houston Astros. There was a lot that was learned about this team in these last six games that will help them going forward over these last 44 games.

J.P. Martinez is an impact player

Julio Pablo Martinez or J.P made his MLB debut on Friday night. He was called up to replace Travis Jankowski who was placed on paternity leave. He started all three games in San Francisco and he did look a little overmatched on Friday, but got more comfortable as the weekend went on. He got his first major league hit and RBI on Saturday and his first major-league extra-base hit on Sunday.

Martinez was one of the few players on Sunday who was actually able to hit Logan Webb's pitches in the air. He did ground out in his first at-bat. but then lined a single off the wall in right field. He then flew out in his third at-bat. He finished off Logan Webb with this double.

He was then able to turn that double into the game-tying run when he scored from second on an Ezequiel Duran infield single. He also nearly threw out a runner at home from left field on Saturday. He finished the series 4-11 with an RBI and a run scored.

The question is what becomes of Martinez once Jankowski comes back? The answer is he probably gets sent back down. The good news is that he is now on the 40-man roster now and he can easily be brought back up in September or be placed on a potential postseason roster. I could see him having an impact in October with his baserunning ability, his defense, and his ability to drive the ball. If he does get sent down on Monday, it does not mean this will be the last we see of Martinez this season.

Next: The return of a winning formula for the Texas Rangers

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

Mitch Garver excelling both behind the plate and in the batters' box

Garver has been a much maligned player for Texas since they acquired him in the hours after the lockout ended back in 2022. He was traded to Texas and was seemingly injured when the trade was made. He required elbow surgery and that ended his season on July 10th of 2022.

Garver came back this season and then strained his knee and missed two months this season. When he did finally get healthy Garver was not productive. His power was missing and he was not the offensive threat that Texas thought they had traded for.

That is until Jonah Heim went down with a wrist injury in late July. Garver took over as the starting catcher and has helped lead this pitching staff and been an offensive weapon for this team. In the 12 games Garver has started in that time, he had a .355 batting average. three home runs, and 10 RBIs. He has become a force in the middle of the lineup.

The good news though is that Jonah Heim was activated off the IL on Sunday and did start the series finale against the Giants. Heim went 0-3, with a walk. He currently can only bat left-handed and so that does open up the door for Garver to start against left-handed pitchers and Heim to start against righties. One thing to keep in mind is that Garver does struggle in the DH role. He has a career .203 batting average when he DH's. Hopefully he can maintain a hot bat even if he is not strapping on the catching gear.

Next: A slumping young player starting to get back on track

Ezequiel Duran is coming out of his second half slump

When the Texas Rangers left Arlington and headed on this west coast road trip they had just lost their starting third baseman for an indefinite period of time and were replacing him with a player that had a sub .200 batting average since the All-Star break. Duran was not driving the ball, was not being patient at the plate, and was just not looking like himself in the weeks since the break. He was struggling to hit fastballs and breaking balls.

The poor play carried over into Oakland as he went 1-8 against the A's. He did work a walk in Wednesday afternoon's game. That was a good sign that maybe he was seeing the ball better. He did not end up with a hit in that game. It was a good sign as the team headed across the bay to play the Giants.

Duran had a remarkable game on Saturday night that has spurred a turnaround. He was 3-4 in the game, with a single, a double, and a triple. He followed that up on Sunday with two singles, a stolen base, and the game-tying infield single that scored Martinez from second. He was driving the ball into the gaps the last two days and making an impact on the basepaths as well. This is the Duran the Rangers are going to need to see on a more consistent basis as they try and survive missing Josh Jung for the next few weeks.

Next: A young player that is continuing his second half slide

Leody Taveras continues to struggle

It was a not so good weekend for Taveras. He did have an RBI single in Saturday night's game. He also struggled on defense on Friday taking a bad route and then bobbling a ball leading to the Giants' only run of the game. His bat is still is not all the way there. This is a screenshot of one of his at-bats on Friday night.

When Taveras is hitting well that third and seventh pitch are ones that he can drive to the opposite field or pull down the line. Instead he fouled off the third pitch and the grounded out on the seventh pitch. It continues to be a second half struggle for Taveras. On this road trip Taveras was 2-23 with six strikeouts.

The answer when hitters are normally struggling is to bat them lower in the order, but Taveras already bats ninth for Texas. Texas has Martinez up currently, but will not have room for him once Jankowski comes back. I think the only thing Texas can do short of sending Taveras down is to just continue to ride with him and hope his bat wakes up and he can start contributing again. Just a reminder his batting average post All-Star break in 2022 was .231. His batting average post All-Star break in 2023 is .186. Chris Woodward and then Tony Beasley stuck with him last season. I do wonder if this continues how long of a leash will Bochy give Taveras as we go from August to September.

All in all it was a great road trip for the Rangers. They have won 70 games faster than any Rangers team in franchise history. They still lead the American League in run differential. They are still ahead of the Astros in the division. They are just rolling through the August schedule and now welcome an Angels team to Arlington that is seeing their playoff hopes disappear by the day.

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