Thoughts on a 7-2 Rangers loss

Astros 7, Rangers 2

• Well, Drew Smyly was okay after the first three hitters of the game, I guess.
• Smyly is frustrating because you can see stretches where you think, okay, he’s a quality major league pitcher. But the consistency hasn’t been there, and he’s not working deep into games. He gave up 3 runs when the first three hitters of the game went double-home run-home run, then just 1 run after that, but he only went 3.2 IP. Of the 20 hitters he faced, he struck out 8, walked 3, and gave up 2 home runs, so it was a very Three True Outcome outing.
• Jeanmar Gomez finished off the fourth in relief of Smyly with a strikeout, but gave up three doubles to start the fifth, got a strike out, and then was chased by a Robinson Chirinos single.
• I continue to forget that Gomez is in the bullpen, and I’m skeptical he’s going to stick around for the bulk of the season.
• Kyle Dowdy came into the game in relief of Gomez and after a K to Jake Marisnick, he gave up a blast to George Springer that was initially a double, looked like a home run, was challenged by the Astros, appeared on the replay to be a homer run, but ended up staying as a double. So, you know, small victories.
• Dowdy ended up doing quality work today, logging 3.2 IP, striking out 3, walking two and giving up two hits. He saved the rest of the pen, other than Brett Martin, who got to make his major league debut tonight in a low-pressure situation, working a 1-2-3 9th to give himself a 0.00 ERA for his major league career.
• Texas only had four hits on the night. One was a majestic, towering ninth inning home run from Joey Gallo, that went over the foul pole and into popcorn cart land. One was a single by Gallo. One was a Danny Santana home run. One was a Delino DeShields double. It wasn’t a good night for the offense.
• So, an unpleasant loss, but even in a bad game for the Rangers, we saw Kyle Dowdy do some good work, Brett Martin make his major league debut, and Joey Gallo destroy a baseball. So there was some positives today, a reason to feel watching was worthwhile.