Thoughts on a 10-4 Rangers win

Rangers 10, Blue Jays 4

• Huzzah!
• Seems like old times. Old times being, what, May? June?
• We had a good Dane Dunning start. A Dane Dunning start that featured a problematic second inning, rather than first inning. A second inning that saw two runs score and the bases get left loaded before Dunning got his release point straightened back out. It gave Toronto a brief lead that they lost in the top of the third, and never regained.
• Dane Dunning isn’t a great pitcher, but he’s quite useful, and did solid work today.
• He did get help from Evan Carter, who threw out Kevin Kiermaier trying to score from second on a George Springer single in the fifth with no one out. Carter’s arm is unimpressive, but it was an accurate throw that nailed Kiermaier at home, a call that stood up after the Jays challenged. So good on Evan Carter.
• Chris Stratton and Martin Perez each provided a shutout inning of relief. Perez pitched in the eighth when it was a seven run game. Ian Kennedy got the ninth and gave up a 2-0 homer to Cavan Biggio before retiring the side. I’m not expecting Perez and Kennedy to be the Rangers’ new lockdown relievers.
• The Rangers first run came as a result of Mitch Garver making a nuisance of himself at third base. Texas had runners on the corners and two outs, then runners on second and third and two outs once Leody Taveras stole second. Chris Bassitt had disengaged twice in a lengthy at bat by Josh Smith. With the third baseman not near the bag, Garver just started walking towards home. Bassitt stopped and ran towards Garver, who scampered safely back to third base. Since that was his third disengagement, it was called a balk, and Garver scored.
• It was pretty funny.
• I mentioned the Jays briefly took the lead in the bottom of the second. It was briefly because Evan Carter, leading off the third with Texas down 2-1, promptly homered to tie the game. First major league home run for Evan. Yay!
• More runs scored as the game went on. There was a wild pitch that scored a run. A Corey Seager RBI single. And a five run seventh that included a Jonah Heim grand slam, right after a 3-1 pitch off the plate was called a strike. It was a bullshit call. But it worked out.
• It was a good game. The pitching was fine. The bats erupted. The team looked like a good team, rather than whatever they’ve looked like the past few weeks.
• Corey Seager had a double at 110.1 mph. Nathaniel Lowe had a 107.7 mph groundout. Jonah Heim had a 107.0 mph exit velocity on his home run. Evan Carter had a 102.4 mph exit velocity on his homer, and also had a 102.9 mph line out. Marcus Semien had a 101.8 mph single. Mitch Garver had a 100.3 mph GIDP. Travis Jankowski had a 100.2 mph ground out.
• Dane Dunning’s sinker topped out at 92.1 mph. Chris Stratton’s fastball hit 94.2 mph. Martin Perez reached 92.2 mph with his sinker. Ian Kennedy topped out at 92.8 mph.
• A three game winning streak, and a game closer to the Jays. Now let’s keep this going.