Rangers 11, Cardinals 1
Rangers 11, Cardinals 1
- Well, wasn’t that something.
- I guess Adolis Garcia had been holding the offense back.
- Okay, first things first, Jack Leiter didn’t allow any runs while recording 17 outs. That’s a good. We are happy with that. He struck out six and walked just two, and that’s pretty good as well.
- Leiter did not generate a ton of swings and misses on the day — 9, out of 96 pitches. You’d like to see a few more whiffs. Interestingly, his most effective pitch in that regard was his changeup, which he threw 16 times, generating six swings, five of which missed. That’s pretty impressive. Three other times he got a called strike.
- Leiter generated two swings and misses on his fastball, one on his slider, one on his sinker. You’d like to see a few more missed bats, particularly on his fastball and slider, but whatever, that’s a discussion for another day.
- Caleb Boushley picked up a three inning save — his first career save. Attaboy, Caleb!
- But yeah, the bats going crazy. The 11 run outburst was the second highest run total of the season, the first double-digit run scoring game since May 10 in Detroit. And it came on the heels of that ridiculous series against the Blue Jays where the Rangers scored three runs in three games.
- Maybe they just really needed a day off at home?
- Marcus Semien busted out with four hits, his first four hit game in over a year. He even homered. He didn’t double, and is still sitting on one double for the season, which is quite incredible when you think about it, but three singles and a homer is a good.
- And they were all legitimate, well struck hits — no bloops that fell in, no topped ground balls that died on the grass for an infield single. His lowest exit velocity was 91.2 mph. and the lowest xBA of any of his four hits was .440.
- Kyle Higashioka, who has not hit well at all this yea,r had a pair of hits and a walk. Sam Haggerty and Josh Jung each had three hits.
- The Rangers scored five runs off of Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore, so maybe Cole Winn was sitting in the bullpen feeling vindicated.
- Now we sit and wait and worry, and ask ourselves, is this a sign of things to come? Is the Rangers offense going to finally perform in an acceptable manner? Will the team regularly score four, maybe even five, runs a game going forward? Or is this an illusion, a Fata Morgana, a way to give us hope before crushing us again?
- Jack Leiter’s fastball maxed out at 99.7 mph, averaging 97.9 mph. Shawn Armstrong’s sinker hit 93.9 mph. Caleb Boushley’s sinker topped out at 93.7 mph.
- Ezequiel Duran had a 109.0 mph line out. Marcus Semien had a 108.7 mph single and a 104.5 mph home run. Josh Jung had a 106.9 mph single and a 101.4 mph single. Wyatt Langford had a 106.1 mph home run. Jake Burger had a 104.1 mph single and a 102.5 mph ground out and a 101.9 mph fly out. Jonah Heim had a 102.5 mph fly out. Corey Seager had a 102.0 mph single. Kyle Higashioka had a 100.5 mph single. Sam Haggerty had a 100.1 mph single.
- Can the Rangers keep this up, or was it a flash in the pan? Tune in Saturday evening and find out.