Rangers
4, Astros 3
- A win of the walkoff variety.
- On the one hand, it was frustrating to see Merrill Kelly have a terrific outing, shut down the Astros, but not get the win because of a Carlos Correa homer off of Chris Martin.
- On the other hand, it was a win, and that’s what really matters, and the Astros ended up burning through more of their pen than the Rangers did.
- By the way, I had forgotten that Carlos Correa was on the Astros again.
- I had not forgotten that Craig Kimbrel was on the Astros, having opted out of his deal with the Rangers after a good amount of time pitching at Round Rock to join Houston.
- Shoutout to the trio of Phil Maton, Shawn Armstrong and Robert Garcia for combining for four shutout innings, three of which started with the Zombie Runner on second base. Keeping the Astros off the board like that is quite the feat, and one has to imagine was a source of much frustration for Astros fans.
- It also seems apropos that the patchwork lineup that the Rangers are using saw the game winning hit contributed by a guy who had been designated for assignment earlier this season, went unclaimed, and only returned to the majors hours before this game due to Adolis Garcia being put on the injured list. Dustin Harris entered the game as a pinch Zombie Runner for Jake Burger in the 10th, stayed in the game in right field when the Rangers didn’t score, and sent a perfectly placed grounder down the first base line for a walkoff double.
- It was also the first hit with runners in scoring position in the game for the Rangers — they had gone 0 for 13 up to that point with RISP, after going 0 for 5 and 0 for 9 in their previous two games before that.
- The win, it wasn’t the prettiest one you’ll ever see, but the job got done.
- Merrill Kelly reached 94.1 mph with his fastball, averaging 92.5 mph. Chris Martin’s sinker touched 95.5 mph. Phil Maton hit 91.2 mph with his cutter. Shawn Armstrong’s sinker maxed out at 95.6 mph. Robert Garcia’s fastball reached 95.3 mph.
- Jake Burger had a 113.2 mph home run. Wyatt Langford had a 108.3 mph double, a 104.5 mph double and a 101.1 mph fly out. Josh Jung had a 104.7 mph single. Ezequiel Duran had a 102.9 mph single.
- As a result of this win, Texas is four games back of Houston, a half game back of Seattle. Let’s keep this going.
