Thoughts on a 2-1 Rangers loss

M’s 2, Rangers 1

• And so the winning streak ends at 1.
• On the plus side, at least it was close.
• Spencer Howard made the start for Texas, tandeming with Taylor Hearn, and threw three shutout innings, allowing a pair of hits and no walks, striking out three.
• Howard threw 44 pitches, and of those, 33 were four-seamers. That’s a high percentage, it seems to me, of four seamers. That said, nine of the other eleven pitches he threw were balls, so maybe that was the one pitch he could throw for strikes on Wednesday. In total he generated six swings and misses on the day.
• Taylor Hearn came in after Howard, in what is supposed to be his final tandem outing before he moves into an actual starting role. Hearn allowed just one run but didn’t have one of his better outings, as he walked four batters and hit another, along with giving up a pair of hits, in four innings of work. He started his first two innings of work with a walk followed by a GIDP. He mixed things up in the sixth — his third inning of work — by hitting the first batter, then got fly outs for the next two outs. That was followed by a single, a 3-2 walk, and a four pitch walk, forcing in a batter.
• Hearn then struck out the final batter of the inning and had a 1-2-3 seventh to end his outing, so that was good. From a “runs on the scoreboard” standpoint it was a good outing, though the underlying performance wasn’t what you want to see from Hearn.
• Josh Sborz threw a scoreless eighth, setting up Dennis Santana to pitch the ninth in a tie game. Santana went double-K-single-single and the game was over. Alas.
• The Rangers offense wasn’t good, as one would expect from there only being one run scored by the visitors all game. Seven hits and no walks. The Rangers one run came in the top of the second, when a double, an infield single and a regular single loaded the bases with one out. D.J. Peters smoked a ball to center that looked like it could have been a grand slam...but instead was just a regular old sacrifice fly.
• The closest thing to a rally otherwise was a fifth inning two out double by Isiah Kiner-Falefa and a sixth inning leadoff double, followed by a balk, by Adolis Garcia. Neither runner scored, obviously.
• Spencer Howard maxed out at 95.8 mph on his four seamer on Wednesday. Taylor Hearn topped out at 97.4 mph with his four seamer and 95.4 mph on his sinker. Josh Sborz hit 97.9 mph with his four seamer, while Dennis Santana reached 97.6 mph on his sinker.
• Nathaniel Lowe’s second inning double had an exit velocity of 108.4 mph. D.J. Peters sac fly was 104.4 mph off the bat, and had a .830 xBA, in case you’re interested. Adolis Garcia’s double was 103.3 mph, and IKF’s single was 100.6 mph.
• I see Thursday’s game is a day game. Oh, goodie.