Thoughts on a 3-1 Rangers win

Rangers 3, Orioles 1

• That makes 7 of the last 8 for the Rangers, including three in a row against the Orioles.
• Most encouraging about these wins is how much weight is being carried by guys who are looked at as part of the future. If Yovani Gallardo pitches a shutout where the Rangers runs come on an Adrian Beltre home run, that’s nice and all, but doesn’t have anything we can look at as being material to the teams future success. But when young hitters are mashing and pitchers under team control are doing work, that’s reason for optimism.
• Mike Minor pitched tonight and continued his strong second half of the season, putting up a Quality Start with a 7 inning, 1 run outing that featured 6 Ks, 0 walks and just 4 hits. Minor, under contract through 2020, was the subject of trade talk in July, and will likely also be this winter. But for now he’s probably the best starting pitcher on the staff. Drew Hutchison’s signing today could help the Rangers in their question to manage his innings, as it gives the, another starter and may allow them to go to a six man rotation to give Minor extra rest the rest of the way.
• Cory Gearrin pitched a scoreless 8th, and Jose Leclerc threw a scoreless 9th for the save. With Keone Kela gone there is no designated closer, according to Jeff Banister, but it’s a safe bet Leclerc will be getting a lot of 9th inning outings with a lead.
• The Ranger runs came on a pair of home runs, one a Joey Gallo two run shot and one a Rougned Odor solo blast. Odor and Gallo have been hot since the Break, and have each homered in each of the last three games. These are two of the young players who you expect to be part of the next real good Ranger team, and how good they are will play a big role in how quickly the Rangers return to contention. Seeing the two of them have big second halves would make the final two months much more pleasant to watch.
• Texas goes for the sweep tomorrow, behind Hutchison, who was just signed yesterday. It continues to be a weird and wacky season for the Rangers, and we shall see shortly what the newly signed off the street righty has to offer.