Thoughts on an 8-4 Rangers win

Rangers 8, Rays 4

• A bounce back win.
• A win that keeps the Rangers five up in the West.
• Things keep going well.
• A less than dominant outing from Nathan Eovaldi, a slippage that serves to remind us that he is human, is mortal. Four runs in 6.1 innings, all allowed in the fourth, three courtesy of a two out, three run home run by Francisco Mejia off of a pretty good Eovaldi pitch.
• Eovaldi made it into the seventh but was lifted with two on and one out in favor of Josh Sborz. Sborz got the Rangers out of the jam, then struck out the side in the eighth.
• Might Sborz be good? Might he be a viable late inning reliever, justifying the Rangers patience with him?
• I don’t know. Maybe?
• Will Smith finished things off with a 1-2-3 ninth. No save, since the bats were discourteous enough to score too many runs and build too big a lead for Smith to qualify for a save. Tis a pity.
• The Rangers had 12 hits in the day. Five of those were by Corey Seager, who was the ever popular triple shy of a cycle. Seager had been 1 for his last 12 prior to this game, and I guess I was feeling a bit of, well, that hot streak he has been in since pretty much the start of the season must be petering out.
• I seem to have been wrong.
• Nathan Eovaldi maxed out at 97.1 mph with his fastball. Josh Sborz topped out at 98.0 mph. Will Smith hit 92.2 mph with his fastball.
• Corey Seager had a 109.4 mph double, a 104.4 mph single, a 100.5 mph home run, a 98.8 mph single, and a 98.0 mph single. Adolis Garcia had a 109.3 mph single and a 103.9 mph ground out. Leody Taveras had a 106.2 mph ground out. Ezequiel Duran had a 104.7 mph double. Marcus Semien had a 104.7 mph line out. Josh Jung had a 104.0 mph line out. Travis Jankowski had a 101.3 mph ground out. Jonah Heim had a 100.5 mph double.
• Rubber game Sunday. And the Rangers won’t get swept. That’s a good thing.