Astros 9, Rangers 3
- That was unfun.
- Kumar Rocker? Well, I guess he pitched okay, if you ignore the home runs.
- The home runs? They kind of put a damper on things.
- Allowing Yordan Alvarez to launch one to the moon? Okay, that happens. Pretty much every time Alvarez plays the Rangers, really.
- Allowing LaMonte Wade Jr. to hit a grand slam off of you? That’s bad.
- Rocker did make it into the sixth at least, which is helpful. MacKenzie Gore will be starting Sunday’s game on short rest, but the Rangers probably aren’t going to want to push him too hard, so not having to ask the pen to handle six innings or something on Saturday was good.
- Gavin Collyer and Robby Ahlstrom each acquitted themselves with scoreless outings, which is nice to see. And which has to be particularly rewarding for Ahlstrom, whose last two outings were rather bad.
- Chris Martin, pitching on back-to-back nights, allowed a pair of runs on a single, a double, a balk and a sacrifice fly. The single was of the infield variety, and weakly hit, but still…Martin’s ERA is now a nice, round 9.00 on the year.
- Much like Friday’s game mirrored the opener of the Angels series, this defeat largely followed the script of the middle game against Anaheim. The starter allowed seven runs in that game as well, and Gavin Collyer and Robby Ahlstrom both pitched. Also, Ranger reliever who pitched the ninth gave up two runs in both games, though in on Wednesday against Anaheim it was Kyle Higashioka who handled the ninth, not Martin.
- Collyer and Ahlstrom each gave up two runs in that previous game, so maybe this is a sign of progress.
- Oh, and Rangers only scored one run against the Angels in that blowout loss, compared to three in this game.
- All the runs for Texas came on Ezequiel Duran homers — a solo shot in the fourth and a two run shot in the ninth. Duran is now slashing .272/.322/.439 on the year.
- Evan Carter had a couple of hits, which, you know, that’s good to see. Cam Cauley had a pinch hit single, so way to go Cam.
- The Mariners lost, at least, which means that not only are the Rangers still a game and a half up on Seattle in the West, Texas is guaranteed to spend the All Star Break in first place.
- Kumar Rocker hit 95.6 mph with his sinker, averaging 93.5 mph. Gavin Collyer’s fastball touched 98.5 mph. Robby Ahlstrom hit 95.7 mph with his sinker. Chris Martin’s fastball touched 95.4 mph.
- The only ball in play above 100 mph was Ezequiel Duran’s fourth inning homer, at 100.3 mph.
- One more to go before the Break.
