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There was a perpetual misty blanket of fog shrouding these two basement dwelling teams tonight as though Chicago was trying to shield our eyes from having to watch a terrible game of baseball played between two bad baseball teams in a matchup between two awful pitchers.
Matt Moore is on his last legs as a member of the Texas Rangers. The hope that they could find the spark that made him the top prospect in baseball just a few years ago is all but dead. In all likelihood, Moore has thrown his last pitch for Texas.
Tonight, Moore lasted all of 3 2⁄3 innings and couldn’t get out of the fourth inning despite being staked to a 9-3 lead. Moore just doesn’t have the command to be successful it would appear. If it wasn’t going to work with the Giants, in that park, in the National League, perhaps it was always foolhardy to pretend it could work here, though you can’t really blame the Rangers for trying.
Not to be outdone, White Sox starter Carson Fulmer lasted two innings and allowed eight runs on just three hits somehow (the somehow mostly being that he walked five batters).
Between Moore and Fulmer, the first couple of innings of this game took nearly two hours to complete and will definitely be the contest Rob Manfred shows the MLBPA when he makes his next sweeping Pace of Play rules changes this winter.
On a more positive note: The Rangers scored 12 runs!
Player of the Game: Just when it seemed like the Rangers were going to squander their dozens of base runners in the first few innings, Shin-Soo Choo hit a two-out grand slam in the top of the third to turn a 5-3 game into a 9-3 blowout and the game kind of settled in from there.
Up Next: Tomorrow’s starter is still listed as TBD but rumors have it that the Rangers will call Ariel Jurado up from Frisco to make the start. The White Sox will counter with RHP Lucas Giolito. First pitch is scheduled for an hour earlier at 6:10 pm CT for the Saturday night game.