Thoughts on a 2-1 Rangers win

Rangers 2, A’s 1

• A win over the hated A’s! Great way to start the week.
• Glenn Otto had a very weird night. He registered a Quality Start, allowing just one run, when Nick Allen, of all people, took him deep, in six innings of work. He allowed just two hits. That’s good!
• But Otto also had major control issues, walking six batters. He didn’t miss bats, generating just five swinging strikes, and striking out just one batters.
• With all the walks that he issued, it is kind of amazing that Otto was only at 90 pitches through six innings. You’d expect that pitch count to be much higher when you walk that many batters.
• From an end result standpoint, it was a very good start for Otto, who put the Rangers in position to win a low scoring game, and lowered his ERA on the year to 4.96. From a process standpoint, though, it was a game that underscored the concerns about his ability to be a major league starting pitcher.
• Brock Burke allowed no runs in two innings of work, which seems to happen a lot with Burke. Three Ks, including the final two A’s batters of the eighth swinging when Oakland had runners on first and second and one out.
• Jonathan Hernandez made things interesting in the ninth, walking Elvis Andrus with one out. Elvis was thrown out trying to steal second on a terrific throw by Jonah Heim, and while the A’s challenged the play, the out stood. That play became even more important when Hernandez walked Nick Allen — instead of two on and one out, it was one on and two outs, which, you know, is better, if you are the pitcher. A backwards K ended the game and gave Hernandez the save.
• The Rangers had more opportunities than would be expected with them pushing only two runs across. Marcus Semien had a solo homer in the third, and Leody Taveras had a triple in the sixth which set him up to score on a Bubba Thompson opposite field single.
• A’s starter James Kaprielian was lifted after the Taveras triple, and with lefty reliever Sam Moll brought into the game, Tony Beasley sent Elier Hernandez up to pinch hit for Brad Miller. The broadcast talked about the importance of bringing the runner on third home in a tie game, about wanting to find a pitch you can elevate to get a sac fly. Hernandez ended up striking out.
• After Hernandez’s strike out, Evan Grant tweeted that this is the sort of execution that the Rangers need to get better at. The thing is, though, that Elier Hernandez isn’t a major league caliber player. He’s a career minor leaguer, a guy who is a good enough AAA player to have a career as a AAA lifer, but who has no business being in the majors. And while Chris Woodward was fired, in no small part, because of the failure of the Rangers to execute in situations like that, a big part of the problem is the extent to which the organization put Woodward in a position where he was having to ask someone who simply isn’t a good major league player to execute.
• Anyway, everyone’s favorite DH, Brad Miller, had a pair of hits before he was lifted. Leody had a walk to go with his triple, and Bubba had a walk to go with his single, and Marcus Semien had a single to go with his homer.
• Adolis Garica had a single at 109.2 mph exit velocity. Nathaniel Lowe had a 107.8 mph groundout. Leody Taveras had a 104.3 mph exit velocity on his triple. Corey Seager had a 103.6 mph groundout. Bubba Thompson had a 102.9 mph single.
• Glenn Otto topped out at 93.2 mph with his sinker. Brock Burke hit 96.7 mph with his fastball. Jonathan Hernandez’s sinker touched 99.7 mph.
• Going for four in a row. Holla.