Thoughts on a 3-0 Rangers loss

Chicago White Sox 3, Rangers 0

• I’m not sure there’s much to say after a game like this.
• Mike Minor was fine -- better than the line indicated, really. He went 5 innings, gave up 6 hits, struck out 9 batters, didn’t walk anyone. All three runs came against him, one of them on a Wellington Castillo home run, the other two runs coming when Leury Garcia dunked a bloop in front of Shin-Soo Choo in right field after he had allowed a pair of singles. The first single, which led off the inning, was a ball that Rougned Odor couldn’t quite reach, but that some second basemen could maybe make a play on. The ball Garcia hit that drove in the runs was a softly hit bloop, the type of ball that oftentimes falls in, but that a quick outfielder who gets a good break might be able to catch.
• Minor was pulled after 90 pitches, likely because he was pitching on normal rest, rather than getting his usual extra day of rest. Minor is now sporting a 5.59 ERA, but he’s pitched better this season than that reflects, and I’m cautiously optimistic about him being a solid member of the rotation for Texas going forward.
• Tony Barnette, Alex Claudio and Chris Martin all pitched today, each recording a scoreless inning. It was Martin’s first outing since April 30, having been activated off the disabled list today, and he fanned a pair of batters, which is a good sign.
• Unfortunately, the hitters recorded a whopping two hits on the day — Shin-Soo Choo had a single and Chris Perez had a double that the left fielder got a bad read on and maybe should have caught. Joey Gallo and Delino DeShields each had walks. It was once again a disappointing performance from the bats, something that has been a pretty consistent theme this season.
• So there you go -- Texas loses 3 of 4 on the series, after getting pretty decent pitching today but being completely unable to do anything offensively. Texas will now come home for three against the Yankees and four against the Royals this coming week.