What is the story about?
A’s
6, Rangers 5
- Stupid A’s and their stupid faces.
- Not a great start by Kumar Rocker.
- Could have been worse, I guess. There was a lot of traffic — Rocker allowed four hits, walked four, and hit a batter — but he managed to just allowed two runs in 4.2 innings. He did get six strikeouts, so he had that going for him.
- A day after MacKenzie Gore needed 94 pitches to get through 22 batters, Rocker needed 97 pitches to get through 23 batters. Averaging over four pitches per batter faced isn’t ideal.
- Still, Rocker left the game with it tied, albeit with two on and two outs, and Jalen Beeks walked a batter to load the bases but got Max Muncy swinging to end the inning with the game still tied.
- The problems arose when Cole Winn came into the game.
- After a single, a bunt and a K, Beeks was pulled for Cole Winn, who was asked to face Shea Langeliers in a 2-2 tie. Langeliers has crushed the Rangers in the past, which isn’t necessarily relevant to what he’s going to do in the present. But he’s also a power hitting catcher who had five home runs heading into this game.
- Skip Schumaker said after the game that that he should have had Beeks walk Langeliers intentionally, with first base open, and then had Beeks face the lefty-swinging Carlos Cortes or, if the A’s went with a pinch hitter, bring in Winn then.
- Of course, Beeks was already at 26 pitches despite facing just five batters — again, pitch efficiency wasn’t a strength there — and I’m not a fan of the intentional pass in general.
- The bigger problem is that Rocker didn’t go deep into the game, and the Rangers were having to use their second reliever of the game in the sixth inning. Way back in the day, when Moneyball and drawing walks and working counts was the new hotness, one of the points that was made was that making pitchers work meant getting starters out of the game earlier, giving your offense the chance to face the middling middle relievers in the middle innings.
- And so Langeliers went up against Winn and hit a 2-1 fastball that…well, its a good thing the Artemis II astronauts landed already, because otherwise they’d have been in danger of getting struck by that ball.
- 467 feet, per Statcast. 112.4 mph and 28 degree launch angle. Its hard to hit a ball better than that.
- Cortes struck out swinging to end the inning, with Texas just down two, briefly. Winn walked Tyler Soderstrom and then gave up another two run homer, to Jacob Wilson. It was Wilson’s first homer of the year.
- The four runs allowed by Winn are tied for the most he’s given up in his career. The only other time that happened was in Kansas City in his sixth major league appearance, all the way back in May of 2024.
- On the plus side, pitching-wise, Gavin Collyer made his major league debut and struck out Lawrence Butler on three pitches. Collyer is perfect as a major leaguer. He should retire now, I think.
- Oh, and Jacob Latz threw a scoreless inning to keep it close.
- The offense made their opportunities count. Texas had just five hits and five walks, but scored five runs thanks to a two run Corey Seager homer and a two out, three run Jake Burger homer in the eighth that shifted the momentum and made what was a comfortable A’s lead into a nail-biter.
- The other big opportunity that the Rangers had came in the second, when J.T. Ginn appeared to be out of whack and on the ropes. Ginn walked Evan Carter, Josh Jung and Josh Smith, bringing up Danny Jansen with the bases loaded and one out. A sac fly would tie the game, a base hit would give the Rangers the lead.
- Instead, Jansen hit into a double play, putting an end to the rally.
- Wyatt Langford had two of the four Ranger hits. Langford was off to a slow start then missed a few games due to the quad injury. Hopefully this will help get him going.
- Kumar Rocker hit 96.2 mph with his sinker, averaging 94.2 mph. Jalen Beeks’ fastball touched 93.6 mph. Cole Winn topped out at 94.6 mph with his fastball. Gavin Collyer threw one fastball that was 97.3 mph. Jacob Latz touched 94.6 mph with his fastball.
- Corey Seager’s homer was 107.7 mph. Jake Burger’s homer was 104.3 mph. Josh Jung had a 105.2 mph lineout. That Danny Jansen inning-ending GIDP was 100.8 mph off the bat. Evan Carter had a 100.7 mph fly out.
- An afternoon game against the A’s to end the series on Thursday. I always feel like getaway day games at the A’s should mean Trevor Cahill against Colby Lewis.
