Good morning, folks…
The Texas Rangers beat the Philadelphia Phillies yesterday by a score of 5-4.
Shawn McFarland offers Five Observations from the win.
Evan Grant laments that the Rangers’ closer situation is still a problem, though Skip Schumaker says Robert Garcia and Chris Martin made their pitches and will continue to be run out there in save situations.
Jacob deGrom was scratched from his scheduled start yesterday with a stiff neck, though it is expected he will make a start in Baltimore at the
beginning of the week.
The top of the Rangers’ lineup has been productive in the early going.
Schumaker explained his controversial decision to have Ezequiel Duran pinch hit for Josh Smith in the ninth inning of the opener.
The Rangers were able to keep Mark Canha around on his minor league deal by allowing him to stay in extended spring training.
The Rangers also re-signed veteran reliever Ryan Brasier to a minor league deal, after Brasier had opted out last week.
Caden Scarborough will miss the first 4-6 weeks of the minor league season as he recovers from an offseason melanoma.
In ABS news, CB Bucknor had six — SIX! — pitches overturned through the challenge system yesterday in the Boston/Cincinnati matchup that featured BoSox manager Alex Cora getting ejected.
David Laurila has his Sunday Notes column up at Fangraphs.
