Thoughts on a 5-3 Rangers win

Rangers 5, Red Sox 3

Rangers 5, Red Sox 3

• A series win for your hometown team, who took three of four against that hated team from Beantown in front of a raucous crowd today in Arlington.
• Mike Foltynewicz registered a quality start today for the Rangers, his second in his last three starts, with the third start being a one run, 5.1 IP outing. Boston pushed just two runs across against Folty in 6 innings, on an RBI groundout in the second and a Xander Bogaerts home run in the fourth. He struck out five and walked just one, though he also hit a batter and had a wild pitch.
• Foltynewicz has now allowed nine home runs on the season, and the Red Sox got some hard contact off of him — of the 24 batters he faced today, 8 of them put the ball in play with a 100+ mph exit velocity, which isn’t a good ratio. Chris Woodward talked about Ranger pitchers having been homer prone this year, and that being something that they want to work on, but the club has also made a point of wanting to throw strikes, challenge batters and not walk guys. A natural by-product of that is that you’re going to give up more home runs if you’re throwing strikes and challenging batters. It’s probably not an unreasonable trade-off to make, though, particularly if you think the new park is pitcher friendly.
• There was a weird play in the top of the fifth. With a runner on second and no one out, Kike Hernandez popped up behind the plate. Jonah Heim tracked down the pop fly and caught the ball, but when he turned and went to transition the ball to his throwing hand, the ball came out. The umpires said it was a dropped ball, and thus not an out. Chris Woodward came out and argued, but to no avail. Foltynewicz struck out Hernandez on the next pitch anyway.
• In the bottom of the sixth, Joey Gallo was called out on a third strike that seemed questionable, complained at the plate, and then got run when he was headed back to the dugout. Woodward came out and was ejected as well. I have to think the controversial call in the top of the fifth contributed to the frayed tempers.
• Brett Martin came in to pitch the seventh with Texas down a run and after a single, sac bunt, ground out, single sequence, he finished the inning with Texas down two runs. Martin is a nice relief pitcher, and he seems to fly under the radar for the most part.
• Josh Sborz pitched a scoreless eighth, allowing him to pick up a “W” for the second day in a row, since the Rangers came back to take the lead in the bottom of the eighth. He struck out two of the three batters he faced and got 5 swinging strikes out of the 15 pitches he threw. That’s good.
• Ian Kennedy needed five pitches to retire the side in the ninth. I’m still trying to figure out how the Rangers ended up scooping him up on a minor league deal. He seems to be good.
• The Rangers bats were mostly silent until the late innings. Texas got a run in the fourth, on a Joey Gallo double, advance to third on a fly out, score on a ground out sequence. Texas had put runners on second and third in the first inning on a pair of walks and a wild pitch, and got a runner to third in the fourth on a two out Isiah Kiner-Falefa single followed by a stolen base and advance to third on a bad throw, but otherwise there was a bunch of nothing from the bats.
• Things started stirring, though, in the seventh. IKF led off the inning with a homer off of Garrett Whitlock, making it a 3-2 game. Jonah Heim had a one out single, but the Rangers didn’t capitalize on it.
• The eighth inning was crooked number time, though. Nate Lowe led off with a walk off of Adam Ottavino, then stole second. He was still standing out there two outs later, though, and there was anxiousness over possibly wasting the opportunity, when David Dahl cashed him in with a single. And IKF led prompted Boston to bring in Matt Barnes. Former BoSock Brock Holt greeting him with an RBI single, and when the ball was overrun in the outfield, a second run scored, giving the Rangers their final 5-3 margin of victory.
• Jonah Heim left the game in the top of the eighth after seemingly being hit in the neck or throat with a ball. No word yet on his situation, but if the Rangers have to call someone up, it would seem to be Drew Butera, who is on the taxi squad and would have to be added to the 40 man roster.
• Josh Sborz had the fastest fastball for the Rangers tonight, at 97.3 mph. Mike Foltynewicz maxed at 95.6 mph. Ian Kennedy and Brett Martin each touched 94.0 mph.
• Joey Gallo’s double was 105.7 mph off the bat. Jonah Heim had a 103.6 mph single. Willie Calhoun had a pair of singles at 101.7 and 98.8 mph. Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s home run was 101.7 mph.
• The Rangers are now 13-16, which isn’t great…but it could be a lot worse. I will take this.