Thoughts on a 4-3 Rangers loss

Jays 4, Rangers 3

• Two winnable games, two Rangers losses. It’s frustrating.
• The pitching was a little better today, at least. That’s something.
• Dane Dunning had a repeat of the first inning blues that dogged him all of 2021, with the Jays pushing two runs across in the bottom of the first. The problem was more defense than Dunning, though — the Jays started the inning with three straight singles, but the first, a hard smash by George Springer to third base, was misplayed by Andy Ibanez, who had it bounce off his chest and then couldn’t corral it. The consensus seemed to be that it should have been scored an error, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s changed from a hit to an E-5 tomorrow.
• After a strikeout of Teoscar Hernandez, it appeared Dunning would get out of the inning when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a potential double play ball to third. Ibanez couldn’t initially get the ball out of his glove, though, and instead of a 5-4-3 GIDP it was a run scoring force out.
• Dunning kept the Jays off the board afterwards until the fifth, when Bo Bichette cranked a change up way out of the park to lead off the inning, tying the game back at three.
• Brett Martin came in for the sixth and went K-single-force out before facing pinch hitter Santiago Espinal. Espinal smoked a 1-1 pitch for a run scoring double, and that, as it turned out, was that for the scoring today.
• Spencer Patton threw 1.1 scoreless after Martin, and Matt Bush threw a scoreless eighth, in case you were wondering if there were any Ranger relievers who could successfully avoid giving up runs.
• All three Rangers runs scored in the third. A Jonah Heim single, a Brad Miller single, and a Marcus Semien double brought home one run. A Corey Seager ground out brought Miller home, and Semien scored on a Nathaniel Lowe single.
• The Rangers had little in the way of opportunities after the third. On the plus side, there were a lot of hard hit balls, which is a positive sign, and the team totaled just six strikeouts, after only striking out twice yesterday.
• Matt Bush was the hardest throwing Ranger today, topping out at 97.7 mph. Brett Martin hit 95.8 mph on his four seamer and 95.7 mph on his sinker. Spencer Patton reached 93.5 mph. Dane Dunning’s sinker maxed out at 91.8 mph and averaged 90.2 mph.
• Nathaniel Lowe had a pair of singles, one at a 106.4 mph exit velocity and one at 102.2 mph. Jonah Heim had a 106.3 mph single, as well as line outs at 98.0 and 97.7 mph. Corey Seager and Brad Miller each had 102.7 mph singles. Andy Ibanez had a 101.4 mph single. Kole Calhoun had a 100.5 mph single. Willie Calhoun had lineouts at 100.1 and 99.9 mph.
• Final game tomorrow. Let’s avoid a sweep.