Thoughts on a 7-4 Rangers win

Rangers 7, A’s 4

• Hey hey! It is a series win for the Rangers, against the hated Oakland A’s!
• I know there’s some folks who prefer losses because of the draft positioning, but I prefer wins, and this one was an enjoyable one.
• Kolby Allard picked up a Quality Start with his outing today. He went 6.2 innings, needing just 81 pitches, and followed Chris Woodward’s mantra to trust his stuff, walking no one and throwing just 28 balls.
• That being said, from the standpoint of the process versus the results, Allard’s start had some issues. Allard struck out just two batters, and generated just four swings and misses. Out of 25 hitters faced, he threw first pitch strikes to just 11 of them. Allard also gave up a pair of solo home runs, both on 3-2 pitches. His average exit velocity allowed was 94.8 mph, which is quite high, and he allowed eight balls in play with an exit velocity of over 100 mph, including at least one off of each of his four pitches.
• Looking at Allard’s pitch map, he left a lot of pitches up over the plate, and that’s going to result in loud contact. It’s a reminder of how important command is for Allard — and command means not just throwing strikes, but throwing good strikes.
• Nevertheless, Allard is now sitting on a 4.88 ERA on the season, and is continuing to make the case to be a rotation candidate for 2022.
• The non-homer run Allard allowed came in the seventh, when he elicited a line out and then gave up a couple of singles. The weakest hit of those three balls was 101.7 mph, and thus Woodward went and got him, bringing in Brett Martin with one out and runners on the corners. Martin gave up a run scoring single, but then got a strikeout and a ground out to end the inning, preserving Allard’s QS.
• Spencer Patton pitched the eighth. He gave up a run. He did not pitch the ninth, however, which is noteworthy, given that Patton was the guy who was going to close when Ian Kennedy got traded.
• Instead, Joe Barlow pitched the ninth. Barlow has been terrific this year, and Woodward had said they’d be looking at him in save situations, which this was once Patton allowed the run in the eighth. Barlow retired the first two batters on a pop fly and a softly hit liner, then gave up a hit and a walk to bring Starling Marte to the plate as the tying run and stressing all of us who wanted the game over with a Rangers win. But Barlow got Marte to hit one of those really high fly balls that is scary right off the bat but then you realize isn’t going anywhere, and the game was over, and the Rangers had won.
• Offensively the Rangers were led by their waiver claim outfielders, D.J. Peters and Adolis Garcia, who combined for three home runs and five RBIs. Peters first homer, in the first inning, was obscene — a 460 foot rocket that is the third longest home run in the new park. His second was an opposite field shot. Both were two run blasts. Adolis Garcia, meanwhile, had a 414 foot blast for his homer.
• And yes, I know, Garcia was purchased from the St. Louis Cardinals after he was DFA’d, not claimed on waivers, but you know what I mean.
• Peters is rather similar to Garcia, a guy with huge tools, big time power, and huge swing and miss issues that have held him back. The write-ups on Peters indicate that he has good strike zone judgment, but he swings and misses too much at pitches in the zone — his swing has holes he can exploit. The Rangers have had success with both Joey Gallo and Adolis Garcia in working on their swings to maximize their power while keeping the swings and misses at a manageable number. It will be interesting to see what the Rangers do with Peters in that regard.
• Yonny Hernandez led off and had a single, double and a walk. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, hitting second, had a double in the first inning that plated Yonny (who had a nifty slide). IKF scored on the Peters bomb.
• On the pitch velocity front, Allard maxed out at 92.7 mph on his four seamer and averaged 91.3 mph. Joe Barlow hit 94.0 mph with his four seamer. Spencer Patton was at 93.8 mph maximum. Brett Martin’s sinker hit 92.8 mph.
• D.J. Peters’ home runs were at 108.3 mph and 103.4 mph. Adolis Garcia’s homer was 107.3 mph. Jose Trevino had a 106.0 mph line out. Nathaniel Lowe had a ground out — natch — at 104.3 mph. Charlie Culberson had a 101.4 mph groundout.
• Off day for the Rangers tomorrow. Let’s savor the win.