Thoughts on a 12-4 Rangers loss

Cubs 12, Rangers 4

• That wasn’t a great way to start off the season.
• Early on things seemed to be going well. Mike Minor made it through the first three innings without being scored upon, gave up a Javy Baez home run in the fourth...and then things started going really not good.
• Minor hit David Bote with a pitch to lead off the fifth. Ben Zobrist singled, Jason Heyward singled, and Mark Zagunis doubled, giving the Cubs a 3-2 lead. After an Albert Almora strike out, Kris Bryant grounded out, bringing home a run but getting the second out of the inning. After Anthony Rizzo walked, Jesse Chavez came in and gave up the always back-breaking two out three run home run. That made it 7-2, and that was pretty well that for the day.
• Chavez put a couple more runners on in the 6th that ended up scoring and landing on his ledger. Kyle Bird made his major league debut that inning, and facing one batter, Anthony Rizzo, who he walked with the bases loaded. Kyle Dowdy made his major league debut in the 7th, and pitched a couple of innings, allowing 2 runs on a Bryant two run bomb.
• So yeah, things could have gone a lot better, but at least Dowdy and Bird can say they’ve appeared in major league games.
• The offense didn’t do much against Jon Lester and the Cubs, outside of Elvis Andrus, who went 3 for 4 with a two run homer, pretty much ensuring that his walk-up music will continue to be “Baby Shark” for the foreseeable future. Rougned Odor went 1 for 4 with a double and got good marks for having a good approach, Hunter Pence had a 9th inning single in his Ranger debut, and Nomar Mazara had a 482 foot home run in the 9th. I think we have talked about this before, but if Mazara hits the ball hard and in the air more often in 2019, good things will happen.
• Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about this game came when the lineups were posted. Shin-Soo Choo was on the bench to start today’s game, while Pence was the DH. Chris Woodward said this isn’t a platoon situation, that there aren’t a lot of lefties the Rangers are slated to face early on and he wanted to get Pence some action, but Choo was reportedly not happy about riding the pine on Opening Day.
• Anyway...a lopsided loss, but it is Day One. Its a marathon, not a sprint. Have to eat the elephant one bite at a time, and all that. Let’s hope the Rangers bounce back in Game Two on Saturday.