Recapping a week in the Eastern Time Zone
2024 Season Record: 12-11
2024 Series Record: 3-3, 1 split
Texas went .500 on the road trip and finished up 17 games in 17 days with a win.
GAME 17: 1-0 Win @ Detroit Tigers
Michael Lorenzen made his Rangers debut on Monday. He went five innings giving up no runs on three hits, five walks, and struck out four.
The bullpen were also lights out, giving up just two hits in four innings and walking none. Two innings by Jose Leclerc where he gave up just one hit and struck out two.
This was the first 1-0 win for Texas since 2021.
GAME 18: 2-4 Loss @ Detroit Tigers
Jon Gray looked really great this game and that’s about all the Rangers could do. Gray went six innings and gave up two runs, one earned, on three hits and three walks.
GAME 19: 5-4 Win @ Detroit Tigers
Another one run win for Texas feels like a real accomplishment when last season they were 14-22 in one run games, and in 2022 they were 15-35. In small sample size statistics, they’re already an improved 3-2 this season!
GAME 20: 9-7 Win @ Detroit Tigers
Jack Leiter’s MLB debut was highly anticipated and went about what I think was expected if you’ve seen some of his minor league game stats.
He went 3.2 innings and gave up seven runs on eight hits and three walks but managed a no decision. He had a great first inning, rocky second inning, great third inning, then rocky fourth before being pulled.
Luckily the Rangers bats kept them in the game and pulled out a win after being tied 7-7 after the fourth, Texas scored a run in both the eighth and ninth innings.
GAME 21: 3-8 Loss @ Atlanta Braves
Travis d’Arnaud.
Thank god he’s not in the AL West or the American League at all because he became the latest Ranger killer. After not having a homerun at all this season, he came into this game and hit three including a grand slam.
Chris Sale really just looked like the old dominant Chris Sale because Texas just couldn’t keep up with him, particularly through some pitched that just embarrassed some of our batters. There was a very specific Corey Seager at-bat, swung at a ball so far outside I felt like I was watching 2012 Josh Hamilton carelessly swing at any and everything.
GAME 22: 2-5 Loss @ Atlanta Braves
Nathan Lowe came back and the Jared Walsh experience ended. But the Rangers bats remained fairly cold for this entire game.
With Jonah Heim on bereavement, Andrew Knizner caught for Nathan Eolvaldi for the first time. And while he only gave up three runs, he also walked six, and I can’t help but wonder if that was because of the battery match up. Heim is an elite framer behind the plate and I think it really showed how important that is in this game.
Texas had a pretty taxed bullpen but Jon Gray coming out in relief was pretty unexpected but really solid. He went 1.2 innings and struck out four. This doesn’t sound like a permanent move, just a necessary one for this particular game and with an off day coming up that can allow for extra rest without making major changes to the rotation.
GAME 23: 6-4 Win @ Atlanta Braves
Another solid outing from Lorenzen to close out the series and the long stretch of games in a row. Going six innings and giving up three runs on three hits, all in the first inning and then walking just three and striking out seven, he only had to wait for the fourth inning for his team’s bats to wake up and support his outing.
Evan Carter pulled out of a slump with a solo home run to start the scoring in the fourth. Going two for four in this game he also made two spectacular catches in the outfield. Adolis Garcia also hit a homerun for some insurance in the eighth.