Thoughts on an 8-0 Rangers win

Rangers 8, Marlins 0

• Hard to think of a better way to start the second half than like that.
• Gray struggled to stay on the mound in the first month of the season, but he’s since hit his stride and pitched like, dare I say, a #2 starter the past two months.
• Out of 94 pitches, Gray went almost exclusively fastball/slider, with 49 sliders and 41 fastballs. Gray generated ten swings and misses with the slider, but he was also able to throw the slider for strikes when he wanted, which resulted in his being able to freeze Marlins hitters for called strikes on the slider.
• Gray wasn’t dominant, striking out five in six innings, but he allowed just four hits and two walks, kept Miami off the board, and lowered his ERA on the season to 3.48.
• Matts Moore and Bush each threw a scoreless inning, and Dennis Santana threw a scoreless ninth to finish it out. Santana, I imagine, was getting a low-pressure inning after a rough ending to the first half. He did allow a pair of hits, but ultimately got out of the inning with no runs allowed.
• Every Ranger starter except Josh Smith picked up at least one hit. Adolis Garcia homered and also picked up a single, getting his second half off to a fast start. Leody Taveras singled and doubled, moving his slash line up to .344/.368/.566 on the season.
• Leody is approaching 100 PAs on the season. He’s not going to keep hitting like this, and he’s still going to have to prove he can hit acceptably for a longer period of time than 100 PAs. So far, though, he’s been encouraging.
• A hit and a pair of walks for Jonah Heim, who should have been in Los Angeles earlier this week. A single, a double and a walk for Marcus Semien, who I don’t think we need to worry about anymore.
• Josh Smith’s 0 for 5 drops him for the year to .207/.324/.276. He's also 0 for his last 18. Ezequiel Duran had been called back up with Brad Miller going on the injured list, and he was 1 for 4 while manning second base in todays game. I am curious as to whether the Rangers may be considering swapping Duran in as the starting 3B and sending Smith down when Miller is healthy.
• Jon Gray touched 97.7 mph with his fastball. Matt Moore topped out at 93.8 mph with his fastball. Matt Bush hit 97.8 mph with his fastball. Dennis Santana reached 99.2 mph with his sinker.
• Leody Taveras had a 109.0 mph single. Adolis Garcia’s home run was 104.9 mph off the bat. Josh Smith had a 101.5 mph groundout.
• Onward to Oakland, and the A’s.