Thoughts on a 5-2 Rangers win

Rangers 5, A’s 2

• It was deja vu all over again tonight. For the second night in a row, the Rangers went into the ninth down 2-1, staged a rally that featured Jonathan Lucroy singling, getting lifted for a pinch runner, followed by a first pitch Rougned Odor single, and that ended with a three run bomb.
• Tonight it was Joey Gallo doing the honors, after last night’s hero, Mike Napoli, tied the game with a sac fly, and Carlos Gomez doubled. Gallo had an outstanding at bat against Oakland closer Santiago Casilla, as he got down 1-2, worked the count full, then destroyed a hanger for a 400+ foot blast that clanged off the foul pole. Joey even gave us a little bat flip.
• There was a good deal of questioning about the decision to pitch to Gallo with first base open, rather than walk him to load the bases for Delino DeShields. I think Oakland made the right decision — that's a situation where you need a strikeout, which Gallo is very prone to, and while walking him would set up the force at home, Delino’s speed makes him difficult to double up, which means even if you get Delino you're facing Ryan Rua (who had run for Shin-Soo Choo earlier in the game) with the bases loaded. You also set Up a situation where a walk ends the game, and Delino is fairly patient. I think pitching to Gallo makes sense...Casilla just didn't execute.
• Andrew Cashner continues to do good things, lowering his ERA on the season to 2.43 with a 6 IP, 1 run outing. The Alex Claudio/Jeremy Jeffress combo in the 7th gave up a run, but Keone Kela looked good over the final two innings, keeping the A’s off the board to set the stage for the 9th inning heroics.
• Two walkoffs in a row, both with three run homers. This was Joey Gallo’s first major league walk off home run...I'm betting it won't be his last.