Thoughts on a 7-4 Rangers win

Rangers 7, Angels 4

• I gotta say, I definitely prefer games like this one where the Rangers score more runs than their opponent.
• The first inning bugaboo appears to have left Dane Dunning this year and landed on Jon Gray instead. Gray allowed three runs in the first inning on a pair of hard hit singles, a rocket of a double by Shohei Ohtani, and then an unfortunate, two out bloop double off the bat of Brandon Marsh that was just out of reach of Eli White. If you are keeping track, Gray has now allowed nine first inning runs this season, and five runs in all the other innings.
• The Angels 3-0 lead was quickly erased, though, as the Rangers batted around in the first, knocking Noah Syndergaard out of the game and putting up six runs in all.
• Those of you who are good at the maths might notice that that means the Rangers and Angels only scored one run apiece the rest of the game. If you’re a fan of offensive displays, you could have turned the game off after the first inning and been fine, more or less.
• Gray gave up the final run in the fourth on a two out single. He ended his day with 8 strikeouts in 5.2 IP against just one walk, and generated 15 swings and misses on 89 pitches. The fact that Gray went 89 pitches, and apparently wasn’t having any physical issues, are both very positive signs. Striking out eight and getting 15 whiffs — 11 on the slider — also makes one feel all warm and fuzzy, even if there were a number of really loud outs.
• The Rangers bullpen made the rest of the game pretty dull — 1.1 scoreless innings from Brock Burke, a scoreless eighth from John King, and a scoreless ninth from Joe Barlow. Burke and Barlow are sporting identical 1.35 ERAs, so that’s neat.
• Is the Rangers bullpen perhaps not terrible after all? The pen ERA is now down to 3.56 on the year. So, maybe? Or maybe we shouldn’t talk about it. Don’t alarm or alert anyone.
• Eli White had two hits and a stolen base, and Jonah Heim contributed the Rangers’ final run of the game with a home run. As we all expected, White and Heim are carrying the offense.
• Sam Huff had a pair of hits and a stolen base. Sam Huff, Threat On The Basepaths.
• I mean, yeah, Huff stole second with two outs and a runner on third, and there wasn’t a throw through, but still.
• The Rangers offense after the first inning pretty much shut down. Seven runs is seven runs, and knocking Syndergaard out of the game early is great and all, so I guess we should say this is more of an observation than a complaint, but other than the Heim home run, no Ranger made it past first base after the first inning.
• Anyway, things all worked out.
• Jon Gray touched 97.2 mph on his fastball, averaging 95.8 mph. That seems pretty fast. Brock Burke maxed out at 96.7 mph. John King hit 92.6 mph on his sinker. Joe Barlow reached 96.1 mph.
• Jonah Heim’s home run was 103.0 mph, and he also had a 101.1 mph groundout. Adolis Garcia had a 102.5 mph double. Brad Miller had a 101.3 mph fly out. Kole Calhoun had a 100.6 mph sacrifice fly. Eli White had a 100.5 mph lineout.
• Let’s see if Texas can make it three in a row tonight.