Rangers
7, Angels 3
- That was a bounce back.
- Patrick Corbin is someone who I was thinking might end up on the waiver wire this week, to see if another team would claim him and alleviate the obligation of the Rangers to pay some innings pitched incentive bonuses, to better ensure they stay under the luxury tax.
- The Rangers had signed Corbin to give them innings, even if those innings weren’t that great. In his first four starts in the month of August, Corbin failed to do that, pitching into the fifth inning just once and totaling 13.1 innings in those four games and allowing 17 runs.
- Corbin had, for most of the season, done his job, which was to provide innings so the bullpen wouldn’t be wiped out. From the beginning of May to the end of July — 16 starts in all — Corbin never went less than five innings.
- But midnight appeared to be striking, Corbin was pumpkining out, and it was debatable whether he was worth hanging onto, especially if the Rangers were out of the playoff race and his incentive bonuses could be the difference between being over the CBT or under it, and if he was just snacking on innings rather than eating them, as intended.
- Nathan Eovaldi being out for the rest of the season means that waiving Corbin is much less feasible now. Corbin pitching like he did against the Angels gives you much less reason to move on from him.
- Eight shutout innings for Corbin, the longest outing without allowing a run for him since 2019. Eight strikeouts, the second highest K count he’s had this season. Just one walk allowed. 14 swings and misses, generated in roughly equal numbers by his slider, sinker, cutter and changeup, each of which he threw around a quarter of the time.
- He got by with some help from his friends. Zach Neto doubled to start the game, and advanced to third on a hard hit fly out by Mike Trout. Josh Jung made a terrific stop on a Taylor Ward one out grounder to keep Neto at third, however, and a hard hit grounder by Jo Adell ended the inning with the Angels having not broken the seal.
- The broadcast talked about that Jung play for much of the game, talking about how it may have shifted the fortunes of the game, that if the Angels get Neto across in the first and take a lead maybe things progress differently, Yusei Kikuchi pitches more confidently with a lead…I’m not sure it is that big of a sliding doors moment, personally, but it did keep the game scoreless.
- And there was some tasty defense behind Corbin after that. Adolis Garcia made a great diving catch on a shallow pop into right field to end the second. Michael Helman flagged down a deep drive to center by Neto with a runner on and one out in the third, another play that saved a run.
- And Corbin took advantage of that help. From the fourth through the seventh he faced just 12 batters, with the only baserunner coming on a leadoff four pitch walk to Taylor Ward in the fourth, which was promptly erased by on a 4-3 DP. A one out eighth inning single by Christian Moore broke a streak of 12 consecutive batters retired, but Corbin then fanned the final two batters of the inning to leave the game on a high note.
- The Rangers didn’t end up shutting out the Angels, as Danny Coulombe allowed a two run homer and a solo shot in the ninth before being replaced by Phil Maton, who got the final two outs of the game. Coulombe has allowed three homers and seven runs in 8.1 innings with the Rangers after allowing no home runs and four runs in 31 innings for the Twins this year. Relievers, man.
- Texas took advantage of Kikuchi’s early command issues right away. Wyatt Langford started the first with a seven pitch walk. Ezequiel Duran ended up striking out swinging, but saw six pitches, and then Corey Seager drew a seven pitch walk. An Adolis Garcia double, a Josh Jung single, and a Cody Freeman sac fly gave the Rangers a 3-0 lead and had us feeling much better after the previous days wet fart of an offensive performance.
- Bombs accounted for the rest of the Ranger scoring, with Michael Helman hitting a two run shot in the second, and Kyle Higashioka and Corey Seager recording solo homers later in the game.
- I’ve been planning on writing something about the extreme pitcher-friendly environment at the Shed this year, and how the ball isn’t carrying at all. Five homers on Tuesday is counter that, I know.
- Patrick Corbin maxed out at 93.2 mph with his sinker, averaging 91.6 mph. Danny Coulombe touched 90.8 mph with his sinker. Phil Maton’s cutter topped out at 91.2 mph.
- Kyle Higashioka had a 105.2 mph home run. Michael Helman had a 102.9 mph home run. Josh Jung had a 101.5 mph fly out.
- Now a chance to take the series and make it a 5-1 homestand.
