Thoughts on an 8-4 Rangers loss

ChiSox 8, Rangers 4

• I was planning on doing a post this week about how Kohei Arihara’s early success was fool’s gold, and that the underlying data from his first few starts did not come near to supporting the sparking ERA and FIP he was sporting. It appears I waited a little too long to make that post.
• Arihara looked bad from the jump. He walked four batters in the first inning, allowed a 110.8 mph home run and a 101.7 mph single, and it was a minor miracle he escaped only allowing two runs. In the second inning, he allowed a pair of singles, a double, and a triple, with three more runs coming in. By the third out he had reached 70 pitches in two innings, had induced just 4 swinging strikes, struck out no one, and was finished for the day.
• The White Sox did an excellent job laying off both Arihara’s split-finger and his changeup, which normally can get swings, and both the folks on Twitter during the game and Chris Woodward after the game suggested Arihara may have been tipping his pitches. Given that Arihara’s stuff is pretty marginal to start with, that would be a problem.
• I quit watching at this point. I was annoyed and vexed and didn’t feel good and was irritated, so I don’t know what happened going forward, at least until now. I shall look now and see how things progressed.
• Brett de Geus pitched the third and allowed three more runs in. The Rule 5 pick now has an 8.10 ERA on the year. I’d say he’s in jeopardy of landing in the waiver wire but it’s not like there are a bunch of better options at this point.
• It does appear from looking at the Statcast data that there was only one well hit ball against de Geus. He also walked two batters though. That’s bad.
• On the bright side, it appears the Rangers pitchers did a good job over the final five innings, though that may just be because the White Sox hitters were worn out by then. Two innings from Brett Martin, two innings from Josh Sborz, one inning from Taylor Hearn.
• Taylor Hearn has struggled lately, so seeing him get a 1-2-3 inning, even late in a blowout, is a good thing.
• Also, with Sborz having thrown 31 pitches today, it wouldn’t be shocking if he were optioned back down and someone like Hunter Wood brought up to give the Rangers a fresh arm in the pen for Monday’s game. Texas has a full 40 man roster but can also move Ronald Guzman to the 60 day injured list to open up a spot.
• David Dahl, in his return to the lineup after sitting the past three days, had a home run in the second to get the scoring started for Texas, and later walked. Dahl has not been hitting, and it would be good to see him get going. A healthy and productive David Dahl would be a very fine thing indeed for the Rangers.
• The other three runs for Texas scored in the sixth. There was a rally of some sort that brought some runs home. It wasn’t enough.
• Isiah Kiner-Falefa continued to pull himself out of his recent slump, picking up three singles. Joey Gallo had two singles and two strikeouts, the type of game that infuriates some folks. Nick Solak continued his new hotness with two hits. Adolis Garcia, everyone’s new fave, got a hit. None of that was enough to top the eight runs Chicago scored early, though.
• Josh Sborz, obviously excited about being back in the majors, hit 97.0 mph with a fastball. Taylor Hearn got to 95.3 mph in his inning of work. Brett de Geus topped out at 93.4 mph with his sinker. Kohei Arihara just barely edged out Brett Martin, 92.3 to 92.2.
• David Dahl’s home run left the bat at 99.7 mph. Consistent with the day, all six 100+ mph exit velocities the Rangers had — Isiah Kiner-Falefa at 107.8, Jonah Heim at 106.0, Nate Lowe at 105.1, Nick Solak at 102.5, Adolis Garcia at 101.5, and Willie Calhoun at 101.3 — resulted in outs.
• I am hoping that the Rangers return home to play the Angels Monday will provide better results. Or at least a game that doesn’t prompt me to turn it off in annoyance in the second.