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So many Texas Rangers games have been like the one we witnessed tonight that you’d think I’d have just accepted that this is how it’s going to be by now.
That sentence reads like the start of a Post Game Thread where I glumly begin the tale of a Rangers loss. However, they did not do that tonight and, because of that, they have now — inexplicably — won more games than they have lost during the 2020 season with nearly a third of the schedule in the books.
Remarkable.
The reason for the tormented writing is hoo boy the Rangers played another slovenly game of baseball and it almost feels like they dragged their Rocky Mountain opponents with them to Grubbyville and strangled the will to perform out of them like an alligator rasslin’ the life out of his next meal in the shallows until the bubbles stop.
There were errors, bad plays, wild pitches, baserunning gaffes, poor decisions, runners left on base by the barrelful, mishaps, balks that were and then weren’t, catcher's interference, rally snuffing double plays, butcherings, disasters, plagues, ruination. You know, the Rangers in 2020. It got so sloppy that even Nolan Arenado was affixed with an error.
And yet, they heckin’ won! That somehow keeps happening and now the Rangers are on the positive side .500 for the first time since Opening Day.
Player of the Game: There was beauty tonight, too. Kyle Gibson had a nice outing and picked up his first win with Texas. Shin-Soo Choo had three hits. Jose Trevino was a catalyst for runs hitting ninth in the lineup. Indeed, every starting in the lineup had at least one hit.
And, well, for a team that was 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position all the way until two-out in the eighth inning, this oily, insurance run flex from Derek Dietrich was manna from heaven:
The Derek Dietrich experiment is off to a hot start pic.twitter.com/QkzQmKiYFL
— Scotty Davis⚜️ (@MrDavisPlease) August 16, 2020
Up Next: The Rangers and Rockies close out their weekend series with Kolby Allard set to take the bump for Texas with a chance to sweep against RHP Jon Gray for Colorado. Sunday’s first pitch from Coors Field is scheduled for 2:10 pm CT.