What is the story about?
Rangers
10, Mariners 5
- So that was pretty fun.
- Going on the road, entering the Mariners’ house, and putting up a 10 spot? That is baseball pleasure.
- Cal Quantrill gets credit for a Quality Start, giving him five such QSs in a row. I don’t get it , either.
- All three runs he allowed came on a two out, three run fourth inning home run by Lazaro Montes, a very large DH who the Mariners added to their active roster when rosters expanded. Quantrill served up a 2-1 Paul Lynde fastball that Montes…
- I am searching my vocabulary to find a word that adequately describes what Montes did to that baseball.
- It had a 116.1 mph exit velocity, and went, per Statcast, 474 feet. It was one of the farthest balls hit in the majors this year.
- Montes, in his minor league career, has been a Three True Outcomes guy, someone who walks a lot, hits a lot of homers, and strikes out a ton. He struck out his first time up against Quantrill, and struck out again in the ninth inning against Adam Macko.
- That homer by Montes cut the Rangers’ lead to 4-3, and made for some nervousness, briefly, in Rangers fans households.
- The Mariners executed an anti-shutdown inning in the top of the fifth, however, allowing five runs, two of them coming on a Wyatt Langford homer and three on a two out, three run Danny Jansen homer that swung any momentum the M’s thought they were getting from the Montes homer back the other way.
- That seemed to take the wind out of the Mariners’ sails, as they went meekly the next three innings, only challenging again when Adam Macko entered the game in the eighth.
- Macko allowed a run in the eighth and another in the ninth, with things getting a bit worrisome when the M’s loaded the bases with one out (that out coming on the Montes strikeout by Macko, supra) courtesy of a pair of singles and a Cody Freeman error. Fortunately for everyone’s peace of mind, Macko got Randy Arozarena on a sacrifice fly for the second out before striking out Dominic Canzone to end the game, making all the Rangers and Rangers fans happy.
- In between Quantrill and Macko, Robert Garcia made his triumphant return, needing just eight pitches to retire the side in the seventh, striking out pinch hitter Michael Arroyo on three pitches for the third out, a little exclamation point, of sorts, on Garcia’s outing.
- The Rangers got on M’s starter Bryce Miller early, with Corey Seager homering to start the scoring off in the first, and Nicky Lopez blooping an opposite field single to bring home Wyatt Langford in the second.
- Lopez was making his first start since August 19, something Dave Raymond and Mike Bascik were very excited about. He rewarded their enthusiasm by reaching base all four times he batted, going 3 for 3 with a hit by pitch, before being lifted for Freeman.
- Miller was lifted in the top of the fourth, with the Rangers up 2-0, the bases loaded, two outs, and Joc Pederson due up. Lefthander Jose Ferrer was summoned from the pen to face Pederson.
- Skip Schumaker, who has not been shy about pinch hitting early in games, sent Justin Foscue up to hit for Pederson.
- Pinch hitting for your lefty-swinging DH in the fourth inning of a game opens you up for criticism if it doesn’t work.
- On the other hand, in a bases loaded, two out situation and with the opportunity to break the game open, you can see why Schumaker would be willing to pull the trigger and send up Foscue, rather than having Pederson deal with a lefty.
- Foscue came through with a two run single, and thus the Rangers had a 4-0 lead rather than a 2-0 lead when Montes hit his homer in the bottom of the inning, and probably it didn’t matter in the long run, what with the Rangers scoring a bunch of runs in the top of the fifth, but it certainly didn’t hurt that the Montes bomb didn’t give the Mariners the lead. Vibes, momentum, whathaveyou.
- Sadly, the Guardians and Astros also both won on the road, so the Rangers are still a game and a half back of Cleveland in the Wild Card race and two games back of Houston.
- Still, better to tread water than lose ground.
- Cal Quantrill hit 95.3 mph with his fastball, averaging 94.1 mph, and 96.2 with his sinker, averaging 94.3 mph. Robert Garcia touched 94.6 mph with his fastball. Adam Macko’s fastball reached 95.7 mph.
- Wyatt Langford had a 107.3 mph home run. Corey Seager had a 106.9 mph home run. Evan Carter had a 104.2 mph single and a 100.9 mph groundout.
- The Rangers need to keep this going to stay in the race. Let’s do that.
