Rangers bullpen games are yielding shocking results with another on the horizon

Bullpen games are very common in todays game. They usually have a guy go out there every 2-3 innings to start followed by anyone who has energy left. Despite what some fans are saying about the bullpen lately, the Texas Rangers bullpen has been rock solid this year. The core of the bullpen has been very strong while certain relievers have blown up.

The Rangers have been no stranger to bullpen games following the run of pitcher injuries in the last handful of seasons. What has not been the trend is the success of the bullpen in these games.

In the last 2 weeks, the Texas Rangers have had 2 bullpen games against 2 lackluster teams in the Washington Nationals and the Chicago White Sox. These 2 most recent bullpen games have lead to 3-1 victory over the White Sox and a 4-2 win over the Nationals.

Texas Rangers bullpen games are working out better than expected

Jacob Latz went out and threw 3.1 innings allowing 2 runs, one being after he left the game, while striking out a career high 7 batters. He took on a bulk of the innings and stepped up as the long relief man for Texas.

Shawn Armstrong would go out and top this performance in Fridays game vs the White Sox going 3 perfect innings with 5 strikeouts. This has continued his strong June after a volatile May and will hopefully stabalize the rightys season and see his numbers continue to improve.

The bullpen as a whole went 18 innings allowing only 3 runs. Stepping up for their starters in full games is huge, especially with the starters injury history. With the most recent Tyler Mahle news, this success couldn't be better timed.

With the Cy Young contender on the shelf for a bit, Kumar Rocker is back up and there might be a lot of innings for the Rangers bullpen to eat here soon. The Rangers next 9 games are against 3 below .500 teams and there will be a key bullpen game likely on Thursday or Friday.

The path to the playoffs is not easy by any means. What can make it harder is if the bullpen starts to falter when the offense finally gets going. Dropping games against below .500 teams is not an option right now.

The upcoming stretch of weak competition is when the bullpen needs to step up, shut down rallies and keep the Rangers momentum building. The Rangers bullpen yields one of the lowest ERA's in the MLB at 3.40 good for the 7th best in the MLB.

Keeping up their elite status will likely be tested this weekend at some point with 9 games in 9 days and they need to step up. The Rangers are currently 1 game back of the Wild Card and need to put a big streak together to catch up to the rival Astros.