Thoughts on a 2-1 Rangers win

Rangers 2, Mariners 1

• I was supposed to go to the game today. However, I ended up having to be in court this morning, and thus couldn’t go. Bah.
• The opener worked. Jesse Chavez may not like it, but for the second time he handled the role effectively. Chris Woodward asked him to face six batters today, and he retired five of them, handing things over to Adrian Sampson with two outs in the second inning.
• Adrian Sampson then cruised, only having one runner make it as far as third from the time he came in until the final inning he worked, the 7th, when he allowed a one out Jay Bruce double and then an RBI single to J.P. Crawford before inducing Dylan Moore to ground out.
• Sampson’s final line was 5.1 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 0 walks, and 5 Ks.
• Ariel Jurado handled the 8th and Shawn Kelley the 9th, and each made it interesting by allowing a walk and a single in each inning, but they emerged unscored upon and the Rangers won so all is good.
• Hunter Pence scored both Ranger runs, once by scoring on a Nomar Mazara double and once on a home run. There wasn’t much else interesting that the Rangers offense did today.
• But that was good enough for a sweep of the hated M’s, and the team now heads into the off day tomorrow a game over .500.