Thoughts on a 4-3 Rangers win

Rangers 4, Mariners 3

• I wrote on Sunday, after the Rangers beat the Blue Jays behind Nick Martinez, that injuries had opened the door for Martinez and Nick Tepesch to solidify themselves as major league starters.  Tepesch, in his second start for the Rangers this season, had his second straight solid outing.  He allowed three runs, to the first three batters of the fourth inning, when he gave up a James Jones triple, a Michael Saunders single and a Robinson Cano homer to allow the M's to tie the score at three.  But Tepesch gave up only two other hits all game, and walked just a pair (both in the 7th, when he was laboring, but had talked Ron Washington into leaving him in the game) against 4 Ks.  It was a the first quality start since the month of April by a Ranger starter other than Yu Darvish, and a very solid outing overall by Tepesch.
• Robbie Ross, newly installed in the bullpen, was brought into the game with runners on first and second and one out in the seventh, asked to preserve a one run lead.  Ross threw just one pitch, inducing pinch hitter Stefan Romero to bounce into a 5-3 double play, and snuffing out the rally.  Neal Cotts and Joakim Soria pitched the 8th and 9th, respectively, and after Cotts walked Jones to start the 8th, the final six batters of the game were retired in order (although Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager complained about the strike zone afterwards, both players going down on strikes to end the 8th).
• The Rangers jumped out to an early lead against former Ranger pitcher Chris Young, with Dan Robertson (hitting leadoff in place of the neck-sore Leonys Martin) drawing a walk to lead off the first inning ahead of Elvis Andrus's two run home run.  The Rangers ended up pushing another run across in the first, when Alex Rios singled home Shin-Soo Choo, and had the bases loaded with one out and a chance to blow the game open.  But they ended up having to settle for a 3-0 first inning lead after Michael Choice fanned and Luis Sardinas grounded out to first.
• The only other Ranger run came on a Choo home run, driven out to left center field to lead off the 5th inning.
• The middle of the order carried the offense againt today, with Choo, Rios and Adrian Beltre each having a pair of hits, though Beltre's were both of the infield variety.  Once again, the rest of the order struggled, with 6-7-8-9-1 spots going a combined 1 for 16.
• Chris Gimenez got his first start as a Ranger, giving Robinson Chirinos the day off while catching a day game after a night game.
• Though Leonys sat with a sore neck, he apparently was good enough to play the field, as he replaced Michael Choice in center for the 9th inning.  Choice had a couple of questionable plays in center before he got lifted, the most egregious being mis-playing a what should have been a Cano single into a double.
• The Rangers go to Detroit for four games starting tomorrow.  Yay, Detroit...Comerica is always a good place for the Rangers, right?  No?  Ah well...