Thoughts on a 7-0 Rangers win

Rangers 7, Phillies 0

• That’ll get the taste of a bad weekend in Detroit out of your mouth.
• It took a while to get going, though, at least as far as the bats go. Kyle Gibson faced the minimum through the first four innings, with the help of a couple of GIDPs, which is not conducive to scoring runs.
• But Martin Perez matched Gibson, at least in terms of throwing goose eggs up on the scoreboard in the early going. Perez allowed baserunners but didn’t let a Phillie get past second base, with the closest to danger he got into being in the sixth, when he needed a Kole Calhoun diving catch with two on and one out to preserve the shutout.
• Perez generated 11 swings and misses on 98 pitches, with seven of those coming on his change up. Perez went almost exclusively with the sinker/change/cutter mix he’s relied upon all season.
• The Rangers bullpen retired all nine batters they faced, though the interesting thing to me was that Matt Bush, who has generally been the eighth inning guy, came into the game in the seventh to face the 9-1-2 hitters. Dennis Santana, who has generally been used earlier in games, pitched the eighth. Santana lowered his ERA on the year to 1.33, and it may be that he is supplanting Bush as the eighth inning guy.
• Brock Burke’s scoreless ninth inning dropped his ERA to 0.80. It was Burke’s first appearance since June 13. For what it is worth, Burke pitched on one day’s rest on June 13. The only other time this season he pitched on one day’s rest, Burke didn’t pitch again for a week.
• With two outs in the fifth Gibson had still faced the minimum, and it had the makings of one of those uncomfortable games where the bats seem lifeless and it’s just a matter of time until the other team scores a couple of runs and wins 2-0 or something like that. Moments later it was a 2-0 game, but in the Rangers favor, thanks to home runs from Nathaniel Lowe and Jonah Heim. Those home runs, they can turn things around pretty quick.
• Corey Seager singled home Marcus Semien in the sixth for a third run, and that would have been enough for the win, but the decision was made to pile on in the eighth. A one out Leody Taveras single was followed up by a Semien home run, and the a two out Adolis Garcia single was followed by a Kole Calhoun home run. The outburst got the Rangers run differential on the year back to positive and turned it into a blowout and would have gotten fans free pizza if that were still a thing. I don’t think it is still a thing though.
• Martin Perez hit 95.7 mph on his sinker. Matt Bush’s fastball reached 98.8 mph. Dennis Santana’s sinker reached 96.8 mph. Brock Burke touched 96.0 mph with his fastball.
• Nathaniel Lowe’s homer was 107.8 mph off the bat. Kole Calhoun’s homer had a 104.6 exit velocity, and he had a 101.9 mph out. Adolis Garcia had outs of 104.3 mph and 100.3 mph. Mitch Garver had a 103.6 mph out. Marcus Semien had a 101.3 mph homer and a 100.2 mph double. Jonah Heim’s homer was 100.1 mph. Josh Smith had a 101.3 mph out.
• Now go get the sweep on Wednesday so everyone can head into Thursday’s off day upbeat.