Thoughts on a 6-3 Rangers win

Rangers 6, A’s 3

• The Rangers split a four game set at home against the first place team in the American League West. You can be happy they performed well against one of the better teams in the A.L., or be unhappy they potentially hurt their draft position, depending on your leanings.
• Lance Lynn did Lance Lynn things, allowing just one run in 7 innings, on three hits and two walks. He also struck out 10, his first double digit strikeout game of the season, and crossed the 100 pitch mark for what seems like the 139th time in a row. His ERA on the year is now 2.40.
• Jonathan Hernandez handled the eighth and gave up a home run to Tommy LaStella, which raised his ERA on the year to 2.81. Rafael Montero got into trouble in the ninth...after retiring the first two batters, he allowed a Mark Canha triple, walked Ramon Laureano, and then gave up an infield single to Jonah Heim on a play that Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who was shifted, needed an amazing effort just to field, though he didn’t have an opportunity to throw to first. That brought Seth Brown up as the tying run, and Montero set him down on strikes to end the game.
• Texas scored all three of its runs on home runs — a solo shot by Derek Dietrich in the second, a three run shot by Rougned Odor in the sixth, and a two run shot by Jeff Mathis in the seventh. That’s two guys who won’t be back next year and one guy most Rangers fans are hoping won’t be back, which puts a bit of a damper on the enthusiasm, but still...
• Odor has now hit home runs in his last three games. He’s also 3 for 17 (with two walks) since being activated from the injured list.
• Isiah Kiner-Falefa continues to defy expectations, picking up two more hits today, and raising his slash line on the season to .321/.366/.407. One of the pretty safe bets for 2020 is that IKF will be a starter at some position in the infield.
• Also picking up hits were Nick Solak, who had a single, and Anderson Tejeda, who had a double. Eli White and Leody Taveras each drew walks.
• Dietrich’s home run and Tejeda’s double were each an impressive 107.3 mph off the bat. Rougned Odor’s home run was 104.7 mph, while Jeff Mathis’s was 102.2. IKF had a single that was 100.6.
• Jonathan Hernandez hit 97.6 on the radar gun today, one of four pitches he threw that topped 97.0. Rafael Montero hit 97.3 mph, one of three pitches he threw that were at least 97.0. Lance Lynn, meanwhile, touched 96.7 while hitting at least 96.0 four times.
• Tomorrow is the final off day of the season for the Rangers. Enjoy it, and rest up for the final 13 games of the season, starting Tuesday.