Thoughts on an 11-5 Rangers win

Rangers 11, Rockies 5

• That was a fun game.
• At least, after the first three hitters of the game.
• Putting up sailboats in the first two frames is a good way to get everyone relaxed and in a good mood. Especially after a scary first where the first three batters got on for Colorado, loading the bases with no one out and prompting a very early visit from Mike Maddux. The Maddux Magic Touch worked, with Gray getting out of the inning without a run scoring, setting the stage for the Rangers to put a bunch on the board and get a big lead.
• Gray wasn’t quite as sharp as he has been in his past couple of outings, as he actually allowed a run for the first time in a while and only went five innings, but whatever. He had a big lead and some of the lesser-used guys in the pen who needed some work got some work.
• Gray’s ERA on the year is down to 3.02. Pretty good, no?
• Cole Ragans got a couple of innings of work and kept Colorado off the board. I was hoping for a three inning save (though, given Ragans came in to start the sixth, it would have been a four inning save), but alas, it wasn’t to be.
• Jonathan Hernandez got the 8th with a ten run lead, a nice, low pressure setting for him to get his mojo back. It didn’t really work out that way, though. Hernandez allowed a single, then a bloop double that just dropped fair down the line, then issued a walk, giving Colorado another bases loaded, no one out situation, kind of like in the first, except there was a 1 in front of the zero representing their deficit. A couple of softly hit balls in the air resulted in an out and a sac fly, after which Hernandez was lifted for John King.
• King ended up allowing a run on five — count ‘em, five — hits in getting the final four outs. A hard hit single and another soft double saw Hernandez’s two runners score before the inning ended. Colorado scored another in the ninth on some BABIP-ing, including a weakly hit infield single with two outs in the ninth to account for the final run of the game.
• Abundant Rangers runs meant that the runs coming across late for Colorado were meaningless, however. Texas accumulated a whopping 15 hits on the day, with every starter getting a hit other than Sandy Leon, who no one expects to hit anyway. The top three batters in the order had three hits apiece, while Ezequiel Duran kept raking, getting a couple of hits and a walk.
• This offense will slow down at some point, surely. But for now, it continues to wreck.
• Jon Gray got to 97.6 mph on his fastball. Cole Ragans hit 96.9 mph. Jonathan Hernandez touched 98.9 mph on his sinker. John King reached 95.5 mph on his sinker.
• Balls were getting scorched by the Rangers on Saturday. Corey Seager had a 113.3 mph double, a 106.4 mph home run and a 101.1 mph single. Ezequiel Duran had a 109.6 mph single, a 103.8 mph fly out and a 102.8 mph home run. Leody Taveras had a 109.3 mph groundout and a 106.8 mph groundout. Adolis Garcia had a 107.0 mph groundout. Nathaniel Lowe had a 105.5 mph single and a 101.0 mph single. Marcus Semien had doubles of 104.7 mph and 104.0 mph, and a single at 104.5 mph. Josh Jung had a 101.4 mph single and a 101.4 mph fly out. Robbie Grossman had a 100.1 mph fly out.
• Going for the sweep on Sunday. Can the Rangers keep it up? Tune in and find out.