What is the story about?
Rangers
10, White Sox 0
- Administering a beat down on an opponent is something that will raise your spirits.
- The Texas Rangers had lost the opener of the seven game home stand, had fallen out of first place. Was it a nadir? No, but it wasn’t feeling great.
- Another loss would drop the team back below .500, and we know how things go when the team is one game under .500.
- With Kumar Rocker on the mound for Texas and a lefty going for Chicago, it felt like the type of game where Marco Gonzales would potentially be pitching the final three innings for bad reasons rather than good.
- But life is a mystery. Everyone must stand alone. And experience the Texas Rangers doing the unexpected.
- Such as scoring off every White Sox pitcher they faced in the game except for Luisangel Acuna, who needed just five pitches to retire the side in the eighth.
- Remember Luisangel Acuna? Former Rangers prospect, traded for Max Scherzer in 2023? He’s not a pitcher by the way. Traded to the White Sox by the Mets in the Luis Robert deal over the winter, Acuna put up a 567 OPS in 2025 for the Mets, and is currently sporting a 568 OPS for the White Sox.
- Kumar Rocker needed just 75 pitches to get through six innings. He allowed just one hit, a Munetaka Murakami bloop single. He struck out six. It was yet another outing that makes you wonder why he can’t do this more often, can’t pitch like this more consistently.
- Gonzales had a three inning save, which is always fun.
- Gonzales being in the majors in 2026 was not expected. I have less than fond memories of him bedeviling the Rangers during his Mariners days. He didn’t pitch in 2025, but was part of the Padres’ AAA rotation this year until he was released after allowing 52 runs in 47 innings over 13 games. Signed by the Rangers because Round Rock was in desperate need of pitchers, Gonzales put up an 8.64 ERA in four starts for the Express.
- But the Rangers needed someone who could give them innings, and they had a 40 man spot free, so Gonzales got the nod.
- I expect he will be designated for assignment in the near future, but hey, we’ll always have this three inning save.
- The offense went to town, plating a couple of runs in the first on a Brandon Nimmo home run, and then piling on in the middle innings.
- Every starter had a hit. We always enjoy that, the spreading of the wealth around.
- Brandon Nimmo? That home run was one of four hits he had on the day.
- Wyatt Langford continued to rake, going 2 for 4 with a homer. He’s now slashing .286/.330/.518 on the season.
- Even Josh Jung leaving the game with a calf issue couldn’t dampen our spirits. Jung said after the game he would be fine, and so hopefully he maybe gets a day off on Wednesday and then returns to the lineup.
- With Seattle losing, the Texas Rangers are back in first place. They continue to hover around the .500 mark, and one can reasonably conclude that they are currently more or less a .500 team. But for now, that’s good enough in the American League West.
- Kumar Rocker topped out at 96.7 mph with his fastball, averaging 95.2 mph. Marco Gonzales topped out at 91.0 mph with his fastball.
- Alejandro Osuna had a 108.2 mph single and a 107.0 mph ground out. Jake Burger had a 108.2 mph double and a 107.5 mph ground out. Josh Jung had a 103.5 mph single. Wyatt Langford had a 103.3 mph home run and a 101.3 mph fly out. Ezequiel Duran had a 101.6 mph double. Nicky Lopez had a 101.1 mph single. Justin Foscue had a 100.6 mph line out.
- Let us take the next step and win the series, to send us into the Seattle series on a high note.
