Losing has been a common theme recently for our Texas Rangers. You can’t blame it all on the pitching. The blame can easily be spread to the defense and we’ll hand some of it to the offense as well. The Rangers lose to the Athletics by a final of 10-3 and are now 11-18 on the season. The Athletics scored 5 runs in the top of the 7th to effectively end the hopes of the Rangers trying to claw their way back. At that point the Rangers had no fight in them. Well touch on this in a bit but the star on the mound tonight was Taylor Hearn.
On the Mound
Kyle Gibson started on the mound for the Rangers and everything was decent to start but he lost his command as the game progressed. I was surprised he came back out to start the 7th but then again, the bullpen scares he if Hernández and Rodríguez aren’t available. I will say that Taylor Hearn has been solid as well. The big inning where the game really got away was the 7th. Here are Gibson’s pitch counts per inning.
1st : 16 pitches 10 strikes- 1 H, 1 SO
2nd: 11 pitches- 7 strikes – 1 SO, 1 H
3rd: 15 pitches – 5 strikes 1 run allowed, 2 walks, wild pitch which allowed Tony Kemp to score.
4th: 15 pitches- 9 strikes, 2 runs on HBP and 2-run home run 1 SO.
5th: 21 pitches – 15 strikes, HBP, 2-run home run, 1 SO
6th: 10 pitches – 7 strikes, 1 SO
7th: 7 pitches- 5 strikes, 1 strikeout, 2 hits, 2 runners scored that he left on base.
Kyle Gibson’s final line: 6.1 IP, 7 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts. He also hit two batters.
Out of the pen
This bullpen is frustrating for the most part. Outside of Jonathan Hernández, Joely Rodríguez Taylor Heaen and Rafael Montero it has been a disaster- to phrase it nicely.
Ian Gibaut pitched 1/3 of an inning and allowed 3 runs even though he didn’t give up a hit. That describes how the 2020 season is going for the Rangers pretty well. Marcus Semien teaches on a fielder’s choice and the bases were loaded. He then walked Robbie Grossman, which scored Kemp. He struck out out Matt Chapman and then Mark Canha was HBP and scored Jonah Heim. Those 2 runs were charged to Kyle Gibson. Bases were left loaded with two outs.
Final line for Gibaut: .1 IP, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 6.57 ERA
I release Ian Gibaut tomorrow and replace him with DeMarcus Evans who is at the alternate site. Ian Gibaut was brought in and
Jimmy Herget pitched 1/3 of an inning and allowed 1 hit, walked one and struck out 1. The hit he allowed was a double and scored 3 runs which were charged to Gibaut. Score 10 – 3 Athletics.
Final line for Herget: .1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 SO, 4.50 ERA
Taylor Hearn pitched a scoreless two innings only giving up a hit and one walk he struck out two.
Hearn’s final line: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 SO, 2.35 ERA
Swinging the bats
The Rangers got on the board in the bottom of the 2nd thanks to a single from Isiah Kiner-Falefa which scored Jose Trevino. Score 1-0 Rangers.
Bottom of the 5th the Rangers had the bases loaded with 1 one out. Rookie Leody Taveras up to bat struck out swinging for the 2nd out. Nick Solak capitalized and worked an with 8 pitch at bat to single and score 2 runs. Todd Frazier flied out to center field to end the inning. Score 5-3 Athletics.
That was all of the run scoring plays for the Rangers unfortunately but seems to be something that us Rangers fans are used to.
Jose Trevino had another multi-hit game along with Nick Solak and Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
The line managed 3 runs on 8 hits, and struck out 8 times. No one in the line-up walked.
