Thoughts on a 10-4 Rangers win

Rangers 10, Orioles 4

• A four game sweep on the road for the Texas Rangers. Regardless of who the opponent is, that is pretty impressive.
• Speaking of impressive, Mike Minor went 8 innings today, continuing a terrific season and picking up another “W.” Chris Woodward was asked after the game why he sent Minor back out for the 8th inning, given the big lead, and he said he wanted to give Minor the chance to get another strikeout or two as he pushes for 200 Ks on the year. Minor had a relatively low-K game today, striking out just 3 while allowing 2 runs on 6 hits and a walk. With most likely three starts remaining in the season, Minor will need 17 strikeouts to get to 200 on the year.
• Taylor Guerrieri was asked to finish things out with a 10-2 lead in the 9th, but only retired one of the five batters he faced, walking three and allowing a hit before being lifted for Luke Farrell. Guerrieri has seen his ERA bump up to 5.32 on the year after a nice early run after being called up, and each rough outing makes reduces his already slim chances of sticking on the 40 man roster all offseason.
• The bats broke out big today, with every starter having at least one hit, and every starter except for Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Logan Forsythe having at least two hits today.
• Ronald Guzman was probably the offensive star of the game, picking up three hits and finishing a triple shy of a cycle. Rougned Odor had a single, a homer and a walk, while Nick Solak had three singles and two walks.
• Jose Trevino had another nice game at the plate, knocking three singles and also picking up a sacrifice fly. As we have talked about time and again, Trevino just needs to hit a little bit to be a viable major leaguer, and after today’s game he’s got a 72 wRC+ on the year.
• Willie Calhoun had a pair of hits today, but his highlight was a diving catch out in left field. He’s made significant strides defensively since he got to Texas.
• Texas is now a game under .500 for the season. Yes, Baltimore is bad, but Texas still handled business against them. The rest of the way Texas faces quality teams — only Boston among their remaining opponents is unlikely to be a playoff team — but they also have 12 home games against 5 on the road. A .500 finish is still a possibility.