Thoughts on a 12-7 Rangers win

Rangers 12, Angels 7

• Well that was exciting. More exciting than it needed to be at the end, but exciting nonetheless.
• Shelby Miller was pretty bad tonight. He allowed 3 runs in the first inning, but only one thereafter, though he once again failed to make it through five innings, getting the hook with one out in the fifth. He needed 87 pitches to get that far, walked 3 batters, struck out no one, and allowed 6 hits. Miller now has a 9.00 ERA and 11 walks against 3 Ks in 10 innings this year.
• One could reasonably ask how long a rope Miller will get, except with Edinson Volquez having gone down, there’s not a viable replacement. Miller generated little optimism in spring training, and he’s not doing much so far in his starts to lead us to think this experiment is going to have a happy ending.
• Kyle Dowdy was brought into what was a tie game when he entered, and what was a blowout when he left. This was Dowdy’s third game for Texas, and he threw 2.2 innings today, but I genuinely have no mental image of him. I’m not sure what he throws. I’m reasonably sure he’s righthanded, but I don’t know that I’d swear to that. In any case, he gave up just one run tonight, and got his first major league win.
• Kyle Bird came in to finish things out with a 12-5 lead, but gave up a two run Kole Calhoun home run in the 8th, and in the 9th, with two outs, went HBP-walk-walk, prompting Chris Woodward to go get Jose Leclerc. Leclerc went 3-0 on Zack Cozart, with Justin Bour on deck as a pinch hitting potential tying run, so we were all stressed, but Leclerc got Cozart to ground out, earning a 7 pitch, one out, 5 run lead save.
• As I mentioned in the minors post earlier tonight, Brett Martin has a 1.17 ERA for Nashville right now, and I’m starting to think Bird is just keeping the LR2 spot warm until they are ready to bring up Martin. Bird shows flashes, but he’s not consistently throwing strikes — he’s got 7 walks and 2 HBPs in 5+ innings this year. C.D. Pelham is off to a bad start in Nashville, so he’s not an imminent option, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Byrd and Martin switch places in the not too distant future.
• The Rangers beat up on Trevor Cahill and some relief pitchers, including Cam Bedrosian, whose dad won a Cy Young in the mid-80s when writers were fetishizing closers. Texas put up crooked numbers in the 3rd, 5th and 6th, and got everyone half prize pizza tomorrow. They are still doing half price pizza, right?
• Everyone but Logan Forsythe got a hit today, and Forsythe at least drew a pair of walks. Joey Gallo was a triple shy of a cycle, and after a few bad games had the naysayers naysaying, he’s now got his OPS back to 944. He also had a heads up play showing off his base running to score on an error, a play that should shut up those who want to say he’s a big lug who lacks athleticism. Shin-Soo Choo had two singles and a homer, Asdrubal Cabrera had a double and a homer. Danny Santana had two hits and a terrific diving play in the field.
• So the Rangers are back above .500, and in third place in the West, which should make everyone happy, except those wet blankets who will complain about how the Rangers are hurting their 2020 draft position.