Thoughts on a 7-1 Rangers win

Rangers 7, BoSox 1

• And thus the week ends on a high note.
• And as wel all expected, Martin Perez and Kole Calhoun led the way.
• Well, and Adolis Garcia, but that doesn’t have the surprise oomph that Perez and Calhoun leading the way does.
• Didn’t feel that way for a while, of course. Martin Perez did his 2022 thing, putting up a Quality Start and keeping crooked numbers from appearing. Perez wasn’t dominant — he got nine swinging strikes on 96 pitches, though six of those were on his changeup, which is a good sign — and he gave up some loud contact. But he also struck out seven batters, walked just two, and allowed only a single run. His ERA is now down to 2.01, which seems good, even in the mushball era.
• Perez gave up his lone run in the top of the fifth, when Kike Hernandez had a two out single, and then was driven home by a Rafael Devers double. It was Devers’ second double of the game — he also had a one out double in the first, and went to third on J.D. Martinez’s single, but Perez struck out Xander Bogaerts and Trevor Story to end that inning with no runs scoring.
• John King, Matt Bush and Joe Barlow each threw a scoreless inning to close things out, and by the time we got to the late innings a low scoring nailbiter had turned into a comfortable Rangers lead. We all like that.
• Of course, we had to have the “will the Rangers be no hit today?” suspense, as is frequently the case. Through four innings the only Rangers baserunners were Nathaniel Lowe and Eli White, who each walked in the third. Kole Calhoun came through in the top of the fifth, however, driving the ball into the bullpen in left-center for a leadoff home run that ended the no hitter, ended the shutout and ended Boston’s lead. That’s a nice little triumvirate for you.
• The Calhoun bomb was just an amuse bouche, it turned out, for what would come in the sixth. Marcus Semien broke his 0 for...I don’t know, something like 28, though it felt like 100, streak with a soft double down the line in left with one out in the inning. A Corey Seager walk put runners on first and second for Jonah Heim, who had been red hot until this series. Heim continued to be on the cooldown, striking out, and leaving us all a-feared that the Rangers might blow a big scoring opportunity, and give Boston the opportunity to come back and sweep the series, and make anyone who wades into the LSB comment section have to read a bunch of angriness.
• Adolis Garcia saved the day, though, driving an 0-1 fastball to right-center and into the bullpen for the most momentum-shifting play in baseball — the two out, three run home run. Kole Calhoun followed that up with another home run into the bullpen in left center, a shot that seemed like a carbon copy of his first home run, as well as a mirror image of the Adolis shot right before him — Garcia’s shot to right-center was 413 feet, per Statcast, while Calhoun’s bomb to left-center was 414 feet.
• To top things off, Garcia had another two run homer to right in the eighth, bringing home Seager, who had singled, once again, making it a 7-1 game.
• The Rangers had just six hits on the game, but when four of them are home runs, it oftentimes works out.
• Martin Perez hit 94.9 mph on his sinker, averaging 92.2 mph. John King reached 93.3 mph on his sinker. Matt Bush hit 99.4 mph twice, as well as hitting 99.1 and 99.0 mph. Joe Barlow topped out at 95.5 mph.
• Corey Seager had the hardest hit ball of the game for the Rangers, an eighth inning single that was 107.0 mph off the bat. Seager also had a 104.3 mph groundout and a 100.1 mph flyout. Kole Calhoun’s home runs were 106.0 and 103.3 mph. Adolis Garcia’s home runs were 104.8 and 101.3 mph. Jonah Heim and Andy Ibanez had groundouts of 101.7 and 100.3 mph, respectively.
• And on we go to a new week, with a series against the hated Angels of Anaheim.