Thoughts on a 6-0 Rangers win

Rangers 6, Marlins 0

• Good news and bad news from this one, huh?
• The good news is that the pitchers mowed down Marlins hitters. Okay, well, “mowed down” may be a bit of an overstatement, as there were just five Ks of Miami hitters. But Andrew Heaney gave up just four hits and two walks in 5.2 IP. Chris Stratton, Jose Leclerc and Martin Perez combined for two hits and didn’t walk anyone.
• It was the team’s ninth shutout on the year. Wait, ninth? The Rangers have held the opposing team scoreless in nine games this year?
• Apparently so. And the Rangers did this one with their fifth starter and the B Team relievers, including a cameo ninth inning appearance from new long reliever Martin Perez.
• The best chance the Marlins had was in the sixth inning, when a walk and a single put runners on first and second with no one out. Jorge Soler smoked a line drive to third base that caromed off Josh Jung’s glove. The runners stayed put because it initially appeared Jung had caught it, so when he picked up the ball he was able to touch third base and then throw to second for an easy double play.
• Thus segueing to our bad news. Jung left the game a batter later, and after the game it was announced he had a fractured thumb. So he will be out for a while.
• Reports indicate that Jonathan Ornelas is being called up to replace him on the active roster. Ornelas offers defensive versatility, which is especially helpful with Corey Seager potentially being limited in his recent return from a sprained thumb. If Seager is at DH or needs a day off, you can have Josh Smith and Ezequiel Duran on the left side of the infield with Ornelas giving you an infielder on the bench.
• I suspect Ornelas will be up only until Brad Miller is ready to be activated from the injured list, which I think is in about a week.
• Speaking of Ezequiel Duran, he homered in his first at bat after coming into the game in place of Jung, so that is good.
• Marcus Semien, Adolis Garcia and Nathaniel Lowe each had homers as well. Texas only had eight hits in all, but when half of your eight hits are homers it tends to work out.
• Andrew Heaney touched 94.5 mph with his fastball, averaging 92.7 mph. Chris Stratton hit 95.3 mph. Jose Leclerc hit 95.4 mph with his fastball. Martin Perez maxed out at 92.6 mph.
• Mitch Garver had a single at 109.5 mph. Adolis Garcia had a 105.8 mph home run and a 103.8 mph single. Josh Smith had a 103.2 mph groundout. Travis Jankowski had. 101.5 mph lineout. Marcus Semien’s homer was 100.4 mph.
• Still up 2.5 games. A six game road trip to the Bay Area awaits. Ezequiel Duran’s home run had a 104.3 mph exit velocity.