Diamondbacks
AD
3, Rangers 2
- That was a motley performance.
- By the bats, in particular.
- The pitching wasn’t great, to be clear.
- Only three runs were allowed to Arizona, which is good.
- Jack Leiter, though, did that thing where his command disappears for a while. In the third inning, the first three batters he faced hit the ball hard, resulting in a homer, a fly out, and a double. A walk, a K, a double steal, and another walk loaded the bases before he got Adrian Del Castillo to pop out to Adolis Garcia to end a 31 pitch inning.
- A 31 pitch inning will kind of mess with your night, and Leiter ended up going just five innings and throwing 91 pitches, 58 of them for strikes. He had as many walks + HBPs (3) as strikeouts, which isn’t ideal, and got some help from his defense, and Wyatt Langford, in particular.
- Still, Leiter was good enough, and you’ll take one run in five innings from your starter.
- The bullpen was a mixed bag. Cole Winn gave up a hard hit double to start the sixth before striking out the side. Robert Garcia’s August From Hell continued, as he misplayed a weak roller to start the inning to put a runner on second, Josh Jung misplayed a sac bunt to put runners on the corners, and Ketel Marte tied the score with an infield single.
- The Rangers have been a very good defensive team this season. That inning wasn’t a good defensive inning, though.
- Then Ketel Marte crushed a two out 1-2 sweeper from Danny Coulombe in the ninth for a homer.
- So not ideal.
- But you know, when you are facing Anthony DeSclafani and Jake Woodford in a tag-team and you give up three runs in nine innings, you’d like to think you’re going to win the game, or at least force extra innings.
- But no, that didn’t happen. The Rangers’ offense scored two runs, which it seems like they’ve done in half their games this season.
- They scored one in the second, when Joc Pederson and Wyatt Langford reached on singles. And that one run was the result of Pederson stealing third base somehow, allowing him to score on a one out Adolis Garcia ground out.
- Then they loaded the bases in the third with no one out, in part due to a botched attempt by Arizona to get the runner at second on a Corey Seager grounder with two on, and scored just one run, on a sac fly.
- They scored just one run that inning despite Corey Seager stealing second base! When both Joc Pederson and Corey Seager steal a base in the same game, you have to take advantage!
- But no. Texas had just one hit, a Kyle Higashioka double, and two walks over the final six innings.
- Its another poor offensive performance in a season full of them, and if the Rangers, as appears increasingly likely, miss the playoffs, the offense is going to be to blame.
- Jack Leiter reached 99.5 mph with his fastball, averaging 97.3 mph. Cole Winn hit 96.8 mph with his fastball. Robert Garcia’s fastball topped out at 97.2 mph. Shawn Armstrong’s sinker touched 94.4 mph. Danny Coulombe hit 91.0 mph with his sinker.
- Corey Seager had a 106.9 mph ground out. Joc Pederson had a 106.0 mph single. Kyle Higashioka had a 105.0 mph double and a 102.3 mph ground out. Josh Jung had a 104.3 mph ground out and a 101.4 mph ground out. Rowdy Tellez had a 102.2 mph fly out.
- An afternoon game on Wednesday, and a chance to win the series. Woo hoo.
