The Rangers failed to take advantage of the gifts the Angels provided in the bottom of the 2nd inning but Joey Gallo powered the Rangers to a 2-0 win. He saved the night with a 2-run blast that had an exit velocity of 99.5 and traveled 404 feet.
This isn’t exactly a play by play recap of the game. It’s mainly highlights and some thoughts.
Kolby Allard took the mound for the Rangers. After allowing a leadoff double he settled in and took care of business through the first two innings. Allard had allowed the double and had three strikeouts and had thrown 35 pitches.
In the bottom of the 2nd, the Angels gifted the Rangers allowing the first two batters to reach by error. The Rangers rejected the gifts from the Angels. Odor has struggled big time but yet he stood safe at 1st after the Angels pitcher couldn’t catch the ball in his glove and find the base. Nick Solak was the next batter and hit into a routine double play but lucky for the Rangers, it was bobbled and Odor was at 2nd and Solak at 1st. This is a prime scoring opportunity for our Rangers. Willie Calhoun flied out to left field. Chirinos hitting .120 was up next and worked to a 3-1 count and hit into a 6-4-3 double play. No runs scored. Such a Rangers thing.
I think it’s time for the Rangers to play more of the younger guys. More on that in a later article my friends.
Allard has a 1-2-3 inning which is nice to see. We need more of this from him as our offense is still trying to find itself. Through three innings Allard is at 49 pitches – 31 for strikes. We need 7 innings from him.
The Rangers bats are having a difficult time getting the ball out of the infield. There’s a lot of weak contact being made.
Allard just struck out Mike Trout in the top of the 4th for the 2nd time in the game. That’s a rarity and I hope our other pitchers are paying attention. Allard is placing his pitches nicely on the inside corners. Allard loses Rendon and issues a walk. Strikes out a struggling Ohtani. Albert Pujols hit a single to left field. He then gets Ward to fly out to Center. Allard is now at 74 pitches.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that Gallo can spark our line-up. He’s leading off in the bottom of the 4th. Crossing my fingers didn’t work. Gallo grounded out but it was bobbled. The Rangers could’ve challenged but it wouldn’t have been enough to overturn it.
Fast forward to the bottom of the 6th inning. Maybe crossing my fingers worked after all. Joey Gallo hit a 2-run home run. Gallo and the Rangers desperately needed that. Not the usual we’re used to seeing from Gallo as it only went 404 feet but we’ll take it.
That was all the offense the Rangers would get in tonight’s game.
Huge shout out to Kolby Allard who pitched 5 innings of shut out ball, allowing 2 hits, 1 walk and had 6 strikeouts. Did I already mention that he struck out Mike Trout 2 he times.
The bullpen actually did their job and shutout the Angels for four innings. The win goes to Edinson Volquez who pitched 1 inning. Rafael Montero earned his 2nd consecutive save. Believe it or not, the Rangers have a 2-game winning streak and move to 5-8. We go for the series sweep tomorrow at 1:35 PM CST. That’s all I’ve got for tonight. Goodnight Rangers fans.
