Thoughts on a 13-12 Rangers win

Rangers 13, Rockies 12

• And that’s why you watch the games. Even when it is bad year, and Yovani Gallardo is starting, and it seems like there’s no point in watching, every once in a while you get something like this.
• Gallardo, pressed into duty by the Rangers because they are desperate for starting pitchers, had the kind of game you’d expect. He worked slowly, made it five innings plus one batter, and gave up 5 runs — the first on a D.J. LaMahieu leadoff home run, then three more in a three run fourth, and a final run in the fifth. Gallardo wasn’t good in 2016 in Baltimore or in 2017 in Seattle, and he was released by the Reds at the start of this season, and so we need expectations to be realistic. If he can give the Rangers 5-6 innings a start with a 5.50-6.00 ERA, Texas can live with that for the time being.
• Texas took a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the sixth, setting up Alex Claudio, who finished the sixth and started the seventh, to be in line for the win. Claudio, though, was off in the seventh, allowing a single and a ground rule double before being pulled for Jose Leclerc. Leclerc has been great this season, and particularly masterful with runners on base, but it wasn’t happening for him today. Single, single, single, K, double, and suddenly it was 10-5, Colorado, Leclerc was out of the game, and Jesse Chavez was brought in for mop-up duty. Chavez finished up the seventh with no more damage, pitched a scoreless eighth, but in the ninth, with the Rangers having gotten back to 10-9, he gave up a two run bomb to give the Rockies a comfortable 12-9 lead, with their closer, Wade Davis, in the pitch the ninth.
• Just the fact that the Rangers were in the game was an upset. Rockies starter Jonathan Gray had been dominant for much of the game, retiring the first ten batters he faced, with the final six of those ten coming via strikeout. In the fourth, a Delino DeShields single and stolen base, followed by a Ronald Guzman single, brought a run home to make it 4-1, and it seemed then that not being shut out would be the moral victory we’d have to be happy with.
• In the bottom of the sixth, however, good things started happening. Guzman walked, advanced to third on a Shin-Soo Choo single, and then scored when Carlos Gonzalez’s throw in got away. A sac bunt by DeShields with an error put runners at first and third, then a Nomar Mazara single made it a 5-3 game. Jurickson Profar followed that up with a three run bomb, which chased Gray and gave the Rangers a 6-5 lead — a lead they seemingly would feel good about, with Claudio in the game and Leclerc behind him. Alas.
• In the seventh, three more runs were pushed across by the Rangers against Colorado relievers Jake McGee and Bryan Shaw. Robinson Chirinos was hit by a pitch, and then Choo walked. A wild pitch and a ground out brought a run home and chased McGee, who gave way to Shaw. A DeShields walk, a Mazara ground out, and a Profar double got Texas to 9 runs, which is where things stood in the ninth.
• The ninth started with a DeShields walk and a stolen base. Mazara walked, bringing Profar up as the tying run. Profar flew to left for the first out, but Rougned Odor singled, loading the bases and bringing the go ahead run to the plate. Isiah Kiner-Falefa walked to make it 12-10, and then Joey Gallo, who had struck out four times already, came up and worked a walk, making it 12-11 and putting the go ahead run at second.
• Due up was Chirinos’s spot, but he had been pinch hit for in the eighth by Adrian Beltre, so Jose Trevino came up. Trevino, a rookie, added to the major league roster just on Friday, expected to be up just one day only to stick around due to a Carlos Perez ankle injury, and now in a situation where he could be the hero with a hit, or end the game with a poorly placed ground ball.
• Fortune smiled on Trevino, who blooped a ball into left center, falling for a hit. IKF, on second, got a great read on it, got a good break, and scored from second, giving the Rangers a walk off win and Trevino his first career game-winning RBI.
• And for Trevino, who became a father just a few days ago, being the hero on Father’s Day was especially meaningful, as you can see from this emotional post-game interview with Emily Jones: