What is the story about?
Rangers
7, Blue Jays 1
- Kumar Rocker outduels Dylan Cease, just as we all expected.
- We were all worried that we’d end up watching a lot of Trevor Williams in this game. And we did watch a lot of Trevor Williams in this game! But in a good way.
- Rocker wasn’t exceptional, by any means, in going 4.1 innings. He did, though, keep the Jays off the board until the fifth, when a pair of leadoff walks led to a run scoring on a one out double by Myles “Turkey in the” Straw which ended Rocker’s night.
- Tyler Alexander got the final two outs of the inning, escaping the jam, allowing Williams to enter the game in the sixth and go the rest of the way.
- If you’re a Toronto Blue Jays fan, aren’t you a little panicked about Dylan Cease right now? His velocity in this game was down 3-4 mph compared to normal, and he threw only 36 strikes in 74 pitches. He’s in the first year of the Strasburg deal — 7 years, $175 million — and this sort of dramatic dropoff has to have you wondering if there’s something physically wrong with him.
- The Rangers took advantage of Cease’s ineffectiveness, to an extent. Probably not as much as they could have, or as we would have liked — and when the Jays had the tying run at the plate in the fifth I was sitting there thinking about the missed opportunities to put up a bunch more runs — but it all worked out.
- The Rangers drew a season-high ten walks in the game, six of which were issued by Cease.
- Three of those were by Wyatt Langford, who also had a pair of hits and a stolen base, and hey, if Wyatt is about to start going off again, the timing couldn’t be better.
- Corey Seager also stole a base, on a straight steal of second, just his second of the season.
- Everyone in the starting lineup had either a hit or a walk in the game. The only player besides Langford who had a multi-hit night was everyone’s favorite utility infielder, Nicky Lopez.
- I know everyone likes talking about Skip Schumaker’s pinch hitting strategeries. With the Rangers up 4-0 in the bottom of the third, bases loaded, two outs, Cease was lifted for Brendan Cellucci, a lefty, with Evan Carter due up.
- Carter struck out on four pitches, and looked especially pitiful in doing so, resulting in no runs scoring in the inning. Dave Raymond and Mike Bascik discussed whether Schumaker should have gone with Justin Foscue as a pinch hitter, in an effort to put the game away.
- My inclination is that, with a four run lead, in the third inning, you probably don’t want to lift your excellent defensive center fielder for a pinch hitter, resulting in a bunch of moving parts that weakens your defense the rest of the game.
- But man, I wish Evan weren’t so ass against lefties.
- Houston lost, so the Rangers are tied for first in the A.L. West, though effectively a game back. The Guardians won and the White Sox lost, so the Rangers are a game back of Chicago in the Wild Card, but effectively two back. Texas is up one (effectively up two) on the Jays in the Wild Card, and up two (effectively up three) on the Orioles, who lost.
- We’re still in the mix! This is exciting!
- Kumar Rocker hit 95.7 on his sinker, averaging 94.1 mph, and 95.4 mph on his fastball, averaging 94.6 mph. Tyler Alexander’s fastball reached 91.4 mph. Trevor Williams topped out at 91.8 mph with his fastball.
- Corey Seager had a 107.2 mph double and a 105.6 mph fly out. Jake Burger had a 107.1 mph double. Nicky Lopez had a 100.1 mph fly out.
- Now to get back above .500.
