Rangers 6, Orioles 0
Rangers 6, Orioles 0
- Two really good games in a row, and I don’t think I know how to process this.
- Last time out, Nathan Eovaldi returned from a month on the injured list on a pitch limit and without having made a rehab start and, well, he looked like he could’ve used a rehab start.
- This time around? This time around, he looked like Nathan Eovaldi. He allowed a single to Jackson Holliday on the first pitch of the game, then allowed just one hit and one walk over the five innings he threw.
- Eovaldi was still on a pitch limit — he threw 72 pitches in his five innings — but he was efficient and, well, when you keep guys off base, you face fewer batters and can get through more innings.
- Eovaldi’s ERA on the season has dropped to 1.75. The missed time is going to keep him from showing up on the leader boards, but if he did have enough innings he’d be second in the majors in ERA, barely behind Hunter Brown’s 1.74.
- I continue to marvel about how wrong I was about Nathan Eovaldi when the Rangers signed him in the 2022-23 offseason. I saw him at the time as a pretty good pitcher who was injury-prone and was only on board with the signing because it was a short-term deal for less than what similarly situated pitchers were getting that offseason. It was a deal that…I don’t want to say I was underwhelmed, but I wasn’t excited about it.
- By the time Eovaldi left the game, the Rangers were up 6-0, and the big lead meant the Rangers could go with Jacob Webb for an inning and Dane Dunning for three innings (and a three inning save!). With Jacob Latz pitching all three innings in relief of Jacob deGrom on Tuesday, and Thursday being an off day, this means that the high leverage arms in the Rangers pen get three days off — a very valuable breather, after all those extra-inning games and heading into a ten game in ten day stretch before the All Star Break.
- The bats did damage once again, with six runs on 11 hits, with a couple of walks thrown in for good measure. The half-billion-dollar middle infield had just two hits, but they were two big hits, with Marcus Semien producing the most momentum-shifting play in baseball in the third inning and Corey Seager capping the scoring with a solo shot in the fifth. The two other runs, in the fourth inning, were from a two-RBI single by Ezequiel Duran, who is, for the time being, half of the starting third base duo in the absence of Josh Jung.
- Everyone had a hit except for the newly activated Jake Burger, who fanned twice but did have a barrel with a .630 xBA, and Billy McKinney, who drew a walk.
- Alejandro Osuna, who may be vying with McKinney for a spot on the active roster, was 2 for 3 with a walk. Josh Smith had three hits, and Jonah Heim, who has struggled of late, was 2 for 4.
- Since June 1, the Rangers have a 100 wRC+. That’s not as good as we would like, of course, but it is much better than the 80 wRC+ they posted through May 31. If we start with the Minnesota series on June 10, the Rangers have a 108 wRC+ since then — and given how pitcher-friendly the Shed has been this year, the park-adjusted numbers, which use rolling three-year averages, may be underrating the bats a little.
- Nathan Eovaldi hit 94.8 mph with his fastball, averaging 92.9 mph. Jacob Webb’s fastball topped out at 94.3 mph. Dane Dunning touched 90.3 mph with his sinker.
- Adolis Garcia had a 108.2 mph single and a 104.7 mph fly out. Corey Seager had a 108.0 mph home run and a 103.6 mph fly out. Marcus Semien had a 104.0 mph home run. Jonah Heim had a 103.4 mph single. Alejandro Osuna had a 100.8 mph single. Jake Burger had a 100.5 mph fly out.
- An off day on some good vibes, much needed headed into a ten game road trip to end the first half.