Thoughts on an 11-7 Rangers win

Rangers 11, Mariners 7

• So this is what it is like when the Rangers hitters all decide to start producing at the same time.
• Yovani Gallardo picked up another Quality Start today, continuing his rebirth as a functional major league starting pitcher after two years of being bad. Gallardo, as usual, didn’t miss many bats — he had just two ks in 6 innings, against 3 walks and 3 hits — but he allowed just two runs, lowering his ERA on the year to 4.97.
• ‘The bullpen was underwhelming today — Alex Claudio gave up 3 runs in 0.2 IP, bloating his ERA over 5, and Cory Gearrin allowed a pair of hits and a run in 0.1 IP. The two allowed 4 runs in the 7th, turning a big lead into a one run game, though the Rangers tacked on runs in the bottom of the inning making it moot. And all five hits were singles, with a throwing error mixed in, so maybe we can cut them a little slack.
• Eddie Butler pitched the final two innings of them game, allowing just one run, which, hey, that’s fine. I guess.
• The story of the day, though, was the continuing damage being done by the Rangers bats. Texas jumped in front in the first on a single, a double, an E-5, and one of those oh-so-rare Joey Gallo singles. Texas put 3 more on the board in the 3rd on a Joey Gallo two run bomb and a Ronald Guzman single that brought home Isiah Kiner-Falefa (who had doubled), and then another 2 in the fifth on Gallo’s second homer of the game and a Willie Calhoun run-scoring GIDP.
• As mentioned above, Seattle got it back within a run at 7-6 with their rally in the 7th, but the Rangers started the bottom of the 7th with an IKF single followed by back-to-back doubles from Guzman and Calhoun, with a third run scoring on a Jurickson Profar double and the final run coming across on an Adrian Beltre single.
• Every Ranger had a hit, with Gallo leading the way, going 3 for 5 with two home runs and a single, pushing his batting average above .200 and his OPS above 800. Rougned Odor continued his hot streak with a pair of hits, IKF and the recently slumping Ronald Guzman each had 3 hits, Willie Calhoun had a pair of hits, and Elvis Andrus extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a pair of hits.
• This recent stretch is the sort of thing that makes you feel somewhat optimistic about the Rangers future. There’s no starting pitchers in the minors knocking on the door, but there are a bunch of young hitters who have potential to do really good things in the majors right now, and we are seeing the destruction this lineup can cause when it is going well. The under 30 position players who are in the majors right now will be key to determining how long the rebuild will take, and a strong second half from the likes of Gallo, Odor, and company would make us all feel a lot better about this team going forward.