Thoughts on a 6-4 Rangers win

Rangers 6, Phillies 4

• A three game win streak! Strike up the band!
• Jon Gray returned to the mound after his second injured list stint. At least as of now he doesn’t appear to be headed back to the injured list, so we can chalk this start up as a success.
• Gray only went three innings due to pitch count considerations, and allowed three runs, all in the first. The first inning runs have kind of an asterisk, though, as a two out bloop by Rhys Hoskins ended up as a two run double when Nick Solak got a bad jump on the ball, then made an unsuccessful diving attempt at a catch. While the awkward dive that allowed the ball to get past him was what was most noticeable, the bad jump was probably a bigger issue in that being a hit rather than an out. Didi Gregorius followed with a softly hit single to drive Hoskins home.
• The good news is that that was the end of the Phillies scoring until the eighth, when J.T. Realmuto hit a solo home run off of Matt Bush. Brock Burke entered to start the fourth and allowed one hit in the fourth, fifth and sixth, but kept Philadelphia off the board those three frames, assisted by Dennis Santana, who came in with one on and one out in the sixth and needed two pitches to get a 5-4-3 GIDP to get out of the inning.
• John King had a scary seventh, ending up with runners on second and third and no outs with the top of the order coming up after a single and a double, but he got Kyle Schwarber to weakly pop out before striking out Alec Bohm and Bryce Harper.
• After that, things went smoothly, with Matt Bush retiring the three non-Realmuto batters he faced in the eighth and Joe Barlow having a 1-2-3 ninth. Barlow was helped out by Roman Quinn bunting the first pitch of the inning very poorly for an easy infield popup, and got a little fortunate that a well hit ball by Kyle Schwarber ended the game by settling into Adolis Garcia’s glove for the final out. It was the second save of the year for Barlow.
• The Rangers jumped out to an early lead in the first when Marcus Semien led off the game with a single and came around to score on a Mitch Garver two out bomb. The lead was immediately surrendered in the bottom of the inning, of course, but Jonah Heim’s solo shot in the fourth right down the left field line tied the game back up.
• As a side note, the Rangers reportedly opted to keep Heim over Jose Trevino this spring due to their feeling that Heim had more offensive upside. Well, so far this season, Heim has displayed that offensive upside, in spades.
• The Rangers looked like they might retake the lead in the fifth when Charlie Culberson singled to lead off the inning and then Eli White got on a bunt single to put two on with no one out. Corey Seager later walked with two outs to load the bases for Mitch Garver, but alas, he flew out to end the inning.
• Lead re-taking was just delayed, not denied, however. The very next inning a Jonah Heim single and a Nathaniel Lowe grounder that became an E5 repeated the two on, no one out experience from the previous inning. Seranthony Dominguez was brought in to put out the fire, and with the righthander replacing the lefty starter Ranger Suarez, Chris Woodward went with three straight pinch hitters as he brought in the left half of the platoons. Kole Calhoun and Brad Miller each struck out, putting Texas in danger of wasting another opportunity, before Zach Reks laced a two out double down the right field line to plate both runners. Reks advanced to third on the throw, and then scored on a Marcus Semien single, giving Texas their sixth and final run.
• I mentioned Jonah Heim doing good, right? He was two for three with a homer and a walk. HHe’s slashing .364/.475/.697 on the year. That seems pretty good.
• Marcus Semien was the other Ranger with two hits. He is, unlike Jonah Heim, not hitting well this year. It would be nice if the two hit night helps get him going.
• Jon Gray, back on the mound again, topped out at 96.0 mph on his four seamer, averaging 94.6 mph. Brock Burke hit 96.3 mph with his four seamer. Soft tossing John King reached 94.2 mph with his sinker. Matt Bush maxed out at 96.5 mph with his fastball. Joe Barlow hit 94.3 mph.
• Corey Seager’s seventh inning single had an exit velocity of 110.7 mph, the highest of any ball in play in the game. Mitch Garver’s home run was 108.0 mph. Nathaniel Lowe had another one of his worm burners, with a 107.3 mph ground out. Jonah Heim’s home run was 106.4 mph off the bat, and his single was 104.6 mph. Adolis Garcia had a 105.9 mph ground out and a 103.7 mph fly out. Marcus Semien had a 104.3 mph ground out. Nick Solak had a 100.0 mph fly out.
• The Rangers now have the chance to sweep the two game series on Wednesday before an off day Thursday in advance to their trip to the Bronx for their weekend series. Let’s see if they can extend the streak.