The Texas Rangers scored six runs while the Tampa Bay Rays scored zero runs.
After suffering embarrassment at the hand of the A’s yesterday, the Rangers needed to rebound against the team topping the American League. Turns out, it was an easy task for Cal Quantrill.
I’ve been making a bit of hyperbolic sport about Quantrill’s ascension from long relief afterthought to rotation savior in just a manner of weeks but eventually it stops being fodder to mine for laughs and veers fully into being impressive.
We’ve arrived at that destination. The Rangers turned to Quantrill to be the series tone-setter tonight and the newly risen ace delivered in spades.
Quantrill kept the AL-best 83-win Rays off the board over his 95 pitches which got him through seven innings of spotless work. To help Quantrill earn a victory, the Rangers broke the scoreless tie with a two-out RBI hit by Justin Foscue off Rays left-handed starter Shane McClanahan.
McClanahan hadn’t been the losing pitcher in a game since right after the All-Star break when he was tagged with a loss back on July 19 in Boston. The Rangers made sure to pin a second loss in the second half on McClanahan when they added three runs in the bottom of the fifth, all with two outs again.
Logan O’Hoppe singled to lead off the inning and scored on a two-out RBI single from team MVP Ezequiel Duran. After Duran stole stole second, Corey Seager crushed a lefty-on-lefty dong to give Quantrill all the wiggle room he never even needed.
The Rangers added a couple more insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth while Jakob Junis and Chase Silseth combined to pitch the remaining two scoreless frames.
There are plenty of hurdles remaining for Texas in the season’s final weeks but you couldn’t ask for a better way to start this series against the AL’s best.
Player of the Game: Quantrill dominated the league’s best squad with seven innings of shutout ball with just a couple of hits allowed and two walks. Quantrill struck out five Rays and earned his seventh win of the season in his 13th start of the year.
Up Next: The Rangers and Rays are back at it tomorrow evening with RHP Kumar Rocker set to take the mound for Texas opposite right handed old friend Nick Martinez for Tampa Bay.
The Friday night first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 7:05 pm CDT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.
