Thoughts on a 4-3 Rangers win

Rangers 4, Royals 3

• It was very hot at Globe Life Park today, and anyone who spent any amount of time out there today understands why the Rangers’ new park is going to have a retractable roof.
• More Bartolo Colon doing Bartolo Colon things today. He cruised through the first two innings, then started getting hit hard in the third. The inning started with a single on a ball that Jurickson Profar made a diving stop on, but had not play at first. A runner-advancing ground out was followed by a pair of singles, the second one bringing home a run, and then Whit Merrifield laced a double to left field that brought home two more runs. After Colon got down 3-0 to Mike Moustakas, the Rangers opted to go ahead and put him on intentionally, but things were looking shaky for the Rangers’ 45 year old pitcher. A short outing seemed to be in the offing.
• But no. Colon got Salvador Perez to fly out to left, struck out Jorge Soler, and there wasn’t much of a threat the rest of the way from K.C. Hunter Dozier led off the 7th with a double, but didn’t move off of second base. Other than that, the Royals didn’t get a runner past first base after the third inning.
• Credit to the bullpen here -- Jose Leclerc walked the first batter he faced, fell behind to the second, and then induced a double play grounder as part of a scoreless eighth. Chris Martin pitched a scoreless ninth, Alex Claudio a scoreless tenth before the bottom of the tenth heroics.
• Texas didn’t put up a crooked number today. Falling behind 3-0, they used the Peckaway Theory to get back into the game. Delino DeShields scored the first Ranger run of the game in the bottom of the third, after a one out walk, advance on a ground out, and an Isiah Kiner-Falefa single. In the fourth, Jurickson Profar tripled to lead off the inning, and then Joey Gallo hit a blast to deep right center that seemingly everyone thought was gone...Gallo was in his home run trot, and the Royals outfielders were perfunctorily jogging towards the wall. But instead of going out, it hit off the top of the fence for an RBI double, setting up a sequence that vexed a number of fans when Rougned Odor bunted (seemingly for a hit), being thrown out but allowing Gallo to advance to third, followed by a Ronald Guzman IBB after he got up 3-0, and then a Carlos Perez bunt attempt that was caught in the air for an out. DeShields then fouled out to end the inning, leaving folks angry about the two bunts.
• To me, I don’t really have a big issue with them. Odor was bunting to try to get on, it appeared, not as a straight sac bunt. Perez is a bad hitter who is slow and prone to hitting into double plays, so I get having him try to get a bunt down.
• Anyway...the third run. Bottom of the sixth, one out, Gallo draws a walk, then steals second. He advanced to third on a ground out, and then scored when Ronald Guzman laced a sweet looking shot into the right center field gap for a double.
• I’m not sure Guzman is up for good, but he’s certainly showing signs of improvement of late, and after seeming overmatched a couple of weeks ago, he’s looking a lot more like he belongs right now.
• So...Texas has a chance in the 8th with a Profar 1 out double, but Gallo gets K’d looking, and Odor hits the ball hard but right at the Royal center fielder for the third out. Nothing productive in the bottom of the ninth. Everyone is tired, its hot, its extra innings on a scorching day in Texas, everyone is ready to go home.
• And Shin-Soo Choo made that happen. Leading off the 10th inning, Choo got up in the count 3-1, and then drove a pitch the opposite way, launching a home run over the left center field fence. Ballgame, walkoff, Rangers win.
• It was a good game, the good guys won, and we can all be happy tonight as a result.