Thoughts on an 8-1 Rangers win

Rangers

8, A’s 1

• That was a good ‘un.
• Shades of 2023, in fact. Nathan Eovaldi doing work, the bats battering, the late innings being low stress because the Rangers’ lead is so large.
• After the first two games of the season, where Eovaldi failed to go five innings in either game and allowed 11 runs, rumblings began as to whether Eovaldi still had it, if age was catching up with the 36 year old. The five run outing in the season opener was an instance where he pitched better than the line score reflected, but his second outing was inherently unpleasant.
• Last time out, Eovaldi picked up a win and a Quality Start with a six inning, two run outing, quieting the criticism a bit.
• And then in this game, in a hitter friendly minor league park, against an Oakland Sacramento Las Vegas A’s team that has a number of potent bats, Eovaldi cruised. He didn’t allow a base runner until Max Muncy (that funky Muncy) singled to lead off the third, then promptly generated a GIDP to erase him. The A’s put runners on first and second in both the fifth and sixth, with a single and a reversed on replay HBP in the former and a pair of walks in the latter, but Eovaldi kept them off the board.
• Eovaldi looked early on like he might be in line for a complete game, given how efficient he was — he needed just 29 pitches through three — and probably could have gone back out for the eighth had the Rangers not put a bunch of runs on the board in the top of the inning and made it a blowout.
• 13 swings and misses generated by Eovaldi, seven of them on the splitter, which he, as per usual, leaned on heavily, throwing it 32 times.
• Luis Curvelo came into the game for the eighth did his job, which was to throw strikes, move things along, and keep things from getting interesting. Curvelo needed just 19 pitches to get through eight batters over two innings. Lawrence Butler homered off of him, spoiling the shutout, so we could get made about that if we were feeling churlish.
• Which we are not.
• Offensively, Jake Burger put the Rangers up four batters into the game, clubbing a three run homer off of Luis Severino after Severino had issued one out walks to Corey Seager and Jake Burger. It looked like the Rangers might be able to chase Severino early when Joc Pederson and Kyle Higashioka each singled after the Burger homer, but a Josh Smith backwards K and a Josh Jung 5-3 put those hopes on ice.
• Severino ended up going six and allowed just one more run, on another home run from Burger, who does not seem to have a lot in common with Jason Botts.
• Texas put up a four spot in the eighth to blow it open, all of the runs coming off of A’s reliever Jack Perkins, who sounds like the hero in a series of 1930s stories about a high schooler who excels in every sport and takes his girlfriend Mary Jane to the malt shop after his heroics are over. Josh Smith, trying to shake out of a season-opening slump, singled in a pair of runs, and Josh Jung, who is shaking off a season-opening slump, doubled in the other two.
• Ironically, Brandon Nimmo, who has been the Rangers’ best hitter so far in the young season, was the only Ranger not to get on base. Evan Carter was the only other Ranger who came to the plate not to get a hit, though he drew a walk.
• While the top three guys have been fueling the Rangers’ offense most of the season, it was the middle part of the lineup — which too often has been a soft underbelly of the lineup — that was especially productive. Aside from Burger’s two homer-one walk game, Joc Pederson had three hits — his first three hit game as a Ranger — and Kyle Higashioka, in the sixth spot, picked up a pair of singles and a walk.
• It was a very fine performance, one that makes staying up late on a week night well worth it.
• Nathan Eovaldi’s fastball maxed out at 96.1 mph, averaging 94.1 mph. Luis Curvelo topped out at 95.4 mph with his fastball.
• Jake Burger’s home runs were 113.6 mph and 104.2 mph. Joc Pederson had a 105.9 mph single and a 101.2 mph single. Ezequiel Duran had a 105.3 mph single. Kyle Higashioka hit into a GIDP that was 103.4 mph. Josh Jung and Corey Seager each had a 100.5 mph double.
• Texas is now .500 on the road trip, with six games to go.