3-8 - Tejeda’s rousing debut sullied by A’s, Rangers swept 6-4

The Texas Rangers are off to their worst start since the nearly-unwatchable early aughts.

Mike Minor couldn’t throw a fastball today, after a couple of starts with subpar velo, and everything he could throw seemed flat before he exited after talking to the trainers with five runs on his ledger.

Joely Rodriguez’s bullpen debut didn’t inspire confidence as he couldn’t produce a shutdown inning after the Rangers threatened.

The bats went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

It’s pretty glum, chums.

But here comes Anderson Tejeda!

Tejeda had never played a game above Down East in High-A ball but he had himself a big league debut to remember as he singled and collected his first career RBI in the top of the fifth and then swatted a two-run dong to pile on two more RBI in the top of the seventh.

Anyhow, the Rangers still didn’t win and were swept and it all continues to be an existential nightmare every day but, hey, at least Tejeda made it different and interesting today.

Player of the Game:

Just about the only blemish on Tejeda’s young big league career was that he left ‘em loaded with a chance to bring the Rangers all the way back in the top of the eighth but he’ll have to settle for an exciting, stellar debut instead of a legendary one.

Up Next: The Rangers definitely could use a day off after their first road trip all the way out on the west coast but after not playing baseball for ten months, MLB decided to allocate three of their six scheduled days off in like the first week of the 60-game season.

And so, Texas will begin a series against the Anaheim Angels on Friday night in Arlington where Jordan Lyles will make his second start of the season against RHP Griffin Canning for the Angels. First pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 8:05 pm CT.