Rangers 5, Astros 1
Rangers 5, Astros 1
- Now that’s what I wanted to see heading into the Break.
- A quality performance by the Rangers. Big Game Nate coming through big time. The bats doing some damage against one of the best pitchers in the league this year.
- Nathan Eovaldi…I run out of superlatives talking about him. Bullpen taxed, coming off a disappointing extra inning loss, Eovaldi says, I got this. 7.2 innings, just one run allowed, eight Ks, one walk. Nathan Eovaldi was a man out there.
- Eovaldi’s ERA is now 1.58 on the season. The time missed on the injured list likely cost him an All Star berth and will cost him in the postseason Cy Young voting — and yeah, he wouldn’t have pitched in the ASG anyway since he pitched the Sunday before the game — but I feel like too many folks are sleeping on what he has been doing.
- Eovaldi does owe an assist to Evan Carter, who had a huge game. Not only did Carter go 2 for 4, with a double, a triple, an RBI and a pair of runs scored, he had a huge diving catch in the first to end the first inning and keep the game tied at 0.
- Carter was the second batter up in the top of the second, tripling home Wyatt Langford to give the Rangers the lead, and then scoring on an Ezequiel Duran double that ended up being all the runs the Rangers needed.
- Adolis Garcia and Marcus Semien each had homers, which is good to see. Especially with Garcia because it means hearing the glorious sounds of Astros fans boos cascading down from the seats.
- The Rangers ended the first half on a ten game road trip that could have put an end to their postseason hopes if it had gone badly. Instead, the Rangers went .500 on the trip, including taking two of three from the Astros. The Rangers still have a big hill to climb, but they’re finally playing like the team we thought they could be in 2025.
- Nathan Eovaldi maxed out at 95.4 mph with his fastball, averaging 94.1 mph. Shawn Armstrong hit 96.1 mph with his sinker.
- Adolis Garcia’s homer was 101.8 mph off the bat.
- The All Star break is now at hand. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.