Rangers Third Week of Spring Training Recap
March 2nd-
Sunday morning we were told that Wyatt Langford is “about ready to go”, and he’s been swinging in the cages and should be playing within a few days.
Today’s spring training game was against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Jon Gray started on the bump this game. Corey Seager got the Rangers on the board in this one with a 2 run home run in the 3rd inning. Then in the bottom of the 4th Joc Pederson led off the inning with a double, and after an Adolis Garcia fly out Jake Burger hit a 2 run home run to make it a 4-0 Rangers lead. Jake Burger’s daughter who just had heart surgery homered on the day she was coming home from the hospital, pretty cool. Then in the 5th Chad Wallach hit a solo home run to left to make it a 5-0 Rangers lead. Two batters later Josh Jung hit a solo home run of his own to extend the Rangers lead 6-0. Jon Gray looked good in his appearance. He worked through three innings striking out two hitters and not allowing a run. Chris Martin was the next pitcher set to take the mound. Martin got through his inning of work without allowing a run and striking out a hitter. Luke Jackson then came in and struck out two hitters and didn’t allow a hit or a walk. I think Jackson definitely has a shot at logging some leverage innings this year. Hoby Milner, Joe Barlow, and Luis Curvelo were next and they all allowed one run but struck out 5 hitters in total. Emiliano Teodo came in to close this game out which he did, getting two hitters to strike out. He tallied his first professional save.
March 3rd-
The following were reassigned to minor league camp: RHP’s Dane Acker & Skylar Hales, LHP Kohl Drake, C’s Malcolm Moore & Cooper Johnson, INF’s Jax Biggers, Cody Freeman, Abimelec Ortiz, & Sebastian Walcott, & OF Trevor Hauver
The Rangers once again play the Kansas City Royals in this one with Adrian Houser starting this one. The scoring in this one got going in the fifth inning courtesy of a Kevin Pillar single. Adolis Garcia doubled to lead off the inning and then got to 3rd on a passed ball and scored. The Rangers then didn’t score till the ninth inning when they scored 2 runs but still fell short to the Royals. Not many notable pitching performances except for Marc Church, Caleb Boushely, and Adrian House was decent. Marc Church struck out three hitters in one inning of work. Boushley worked two innings and struck out 3 hitters. The Rangers lost 6-3 in this one.
March 4th-
Early that morning around 10:30 reports came out that Adolis Garcia was having some oblique soreness and was scratched from the lineup, also it was said he will miss some time.
The Rangers faced one of their divisional opponents in the Athletics. Dane Dunning was the starter for the Rangers in this one. Joc Pederson got the Rangers on the board early in this one in the first inning with a 2 run home run. Then in the fourth inning Josh Smith hit a solo home run off of A’s all star fireballer Mason Miller. The Rangers couldn’t get anymore runs on the board the rest of the game, but Alejandro Osuna, who has looked really good this spring, smacked a double off Miller on a 102 MPH fastball. Dane Dunning didn’t look great in this one he went two innings and gave up 2 runs and allowed 4 hits. However, Patrick Murphy, Matt Festa, and Gerson Garabito didn’t give up runs in this one. Murphy continued to look good in this one, I think he has a shot at a roster spot. Garabito and Festa both struck out a hitter. The Rangers lost this one 6-3.
March 5th-
We got some good news on Adolis Garcia this morning. Bruce Bochy said,” that Adolis Garcia’s oblique is “not quite” a Grade 1 strain. They believe he’ll miss less time than Wyatt Langford has missed and will be ready for opening day.”
We also got told that Jacob deGrom and Wyatt Langford are set to make their debuts on Friday weather permitting.
The Rangers were set to face the Cincinnati Reds in this one. Tyler Mahle was set to take the hill in this one. Not too much offense in this one. The Rangers got on the board in the fifth inning on an RBI walk after the bases were walked loaded. Later that inning Nick Ahmed hit a grand slam to make it a 5-1 Rangers lead. That’s all the Rangers would need in this one, they won the game 5-2. Tyler Mahle worked through four innings in this one, he struck out three hitters and he walked two hitters. Mahle did give up one run on two hits. Luke Jackson then came in and picked up right where he left off. Jackson has been really good this spring, he walked one hitter and he struck out three hitters on three sliders. Emiliano Teodo pitched the ninth inning in this one going for his second save of the spring. Teodo struck out the side all on sliders.
March 6th-
The Rangers were split squaring today playing the San Diego Padres, and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The game against the Dodgers was definitely a bullpen game I’m thinking because the Rangers used 9 pitchers in this game. Luis Curvelo, Hoby Milner, and Robby Ahlstrom were the only ones not to give up a run. Curvelo struck out a hitter and gave up one hit. Holy Milner had the same state line as Curvelo. Robby Ahlstrom struck out a hitter, gave up a hit, and walked a hitter. The Rangers had 11 hits in this game, but only scored 4 runs. Nick Ahmed hit a 2 run home run in the 5th inning. Then in the 7th inning Sebastian Walcott hit an RBI groundout, and Abimelec Ortiz hit an RBI single. The Rangers lost this one 8-4.
The game against the Padres the Rangers used less pitchers only using 4. Cody Bradford gave up the only 2 runs the Padres scored in the game on a solo home run in the 1st inning, and then another solo home run in the 4th. Jack Leiter then came into the game after Bradford. Leiter looked great in this game. He worked through three innings giving up 2 hits, and he struck out 3 hitters. Robert Garcia worked through an inning he walked 1 hitter and he struck out a hitter as well. Marc Church then came in to finish this game out, he had a clean inning and got three outs on balls put in play. Marcus Semien got the Rangers on the board early with his first home run of the spring. Corey Seager then got the Rangers the lead in the 3rd on an RBI groundout. The Padres then tied the game, but Leody Taveras got the Rangers the lead back in the 4th on an RBI double. In the same inning Kevin Pillar extended the Rangers lead with an RBI single. Then in the bottom of the 7th, Cameron Cauley smacks a home run to right field to make it a 6-2 Rangers lead. Blaine Crim hits an RBI single to extend the lead to 7-2, and Cameron Cauley again in the 8th inning gets another RBI on a single to make it a 8-2 Rangers lead. That would be the final score in this one. The Rangers went 1-1 on the day.
March 7th
Jacob deGrom and Wyatt Langford were set to make their spring debuts Friday night against the Colorado Rockies but the game was canceled.
March 8th-
Jacob deGrom and Wyatt Langford are set to make their spring debuts today against the Royals
The Rangers face off against the Kansas City Royals in this one with Jacob deGrom making his first spring start. No offense in the first inning for either team, but Wyatt Langford did smack a single that was 98 MPH off the bat. The Rangers got on the board in the 2nd inning on an RBI double play hit by Kyle Higashioka. Jake Burger led off the inning with a double, then Kevin Pillar hit a single to get Jake Burger over to third base. The Rangers then scored 2 runs in the 4th inning. Wyatt Langford led the inning off with a walk and then Josh Jung smacked a double. The Rangers scored on a sacrifice fly from Kevin Pillar and a double from Kyle Higashioka, the Rangers lead the Royals 3-0 in the bottom of the 4th. Then in the bottom of the 5th Leody Taveras led off the inning with a solo home run to center field. The Rangers then got one more run in this game in the 7th inning on an RBI single from Alan Trejo. Jacob deGrom looked like vintage Jacob deGrom in this one. He tossed two perfect innings striking out 3 hitters. Jacob Katz then came in and got 2 hitters to strike out in his inning of work. Patrick Murphy then came in after Latz. I think Murphy has a shot to grab a roster spot, I have liked what I have seen from him. Murphy in his two innings of work got 1 hitter to strikeout and he gave up two hits. Luis Curvelo came in to close this one out. He notched the save while striking out 1 hitter and allowing 1 hit. The Rangers won this game 5-3.
