19-22 - The Core showed up and showed out in 16-1 finale win over Kansas City

Today’s 16-run shellacking of the Kansas City Royals by the Texas Rangers is a game to keep in your memory banks to savor anytime you start to worry that the core of young players the Rangers have amassed might not be able to lead Texas back to contention.

As I mentioned in a tweet:

Take for example Mr. Millennial Baseball Joey Gallo, often thought of as a one-dimensional all-or-nothing slugger, who, well, slugged today, with a homer and two doubles to go along with a single and the most scrumptious battle-back-from-down-0-2 8-pitch walk you’ll ever see.

Willie Calhoun, who probably sees Ryan Rua and Carlos Tocci when he closes his eyes at night, and is considered something of a problem child, went 4-for-7 with a blast to straight away CF and had a team-high seven total bases.

Nomar Mazara’s lack of meritocracy cred getting on your nerves? A hit, two walks, two runs scored.

Wanna get off Mr. Odor’s Wild Ride? Rougned went 3-for-5 with two dongs.

Everyone on the team had at least one hit and the Rangers had 21 total hits and scored a season-high 16 runs. As bad as this road trip was, that was about as satisfying a way to conclude it as Texas could have offered.

Player of the Game:

Up Next: The Rangers head back home to take on the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday with the Cardinals visiting the Ballpark for the first time since Mike Napoli hit a game-winning double to give the Rangers a lead in the World Series that mysteriously ended right then after five games.

The Lizard King himself Miles Mikolas is set to make the start for St. Louis while the current listed starter for the Rangers is Jose Leclerc, so we might be seeing some opener action out of Texas. First pitch in the series opener from The Ballpark is scheduled for 7:05 PM CT.