Thoughts on a 4-3 Rangers loss

Indians 4, Rangers 3

• Well, Texas is 0-2 now.
• Martin Perez had a very 2016 Martin Perez game. 6 IP, 3 runs, 4 Ks, 4 walks, and a wind-blown home run. He wasn’t bad, but he had one of those innings where things kind of snowballed on him, and he had some issues throwing strikes, and he didn’t get enough swings and misses (6 out of 91 pitches). It was a serviceable start for a back-end rotation member, but not what those of us who have been hoping he would take a step forward wanted to see in his season debut.
• Jeremy Jeffress and Dario Alvarez combined to allow a run in the 7th inning, on a single, a walk, and then a two out RBI single. Bleah.
• Want some positivity from the pitching staff from yesterday? Jose Leclerc, who made the Opening Day roster primarily because Keone Kela acted like a pill in a game at the end of spring training and got demoted, had two perfect innings, striking out three. Leclerc has a terrific arm, but struggles to throw strikes...if he has improved control this year, he could be a weapon.
• The story on offense was Joey Gallo hitting a moonshot into the upper deck in right field. It was ridiculous. Statcast has it at 443 feet, but it looked a lot longer than that. Check it out below:

• Gallo also had a single, and struck out twice. Overall, so far this year, even with the Ks, Gallo has looked much better so far this season than he did last year.
• The Rangers rallied in the 9th and had a chance to tie the score, with Nomar Mazara and Mike Napoli starting the inning off with back-to-back doubles to make it 4-3. Alas, Rougned Odor, pinch hitter Jurickson Profar (batting for Ryan Rua), and Gallo all fanned to end the game.
• So anyway, disappointing loss, disappointing start to the season. It happens. Let’s see if the Rangers can salvage the finale and avoid a sweep on Wednesday.