The great thing about baseball season is that, in the span of 4 days, a team can completely change their stripes.
On Wednesday afternoon, we wrote about a team that was heading home having lost their fifth game in six days. Sam Dyson’s run as closer had officially come to an end, Mike Hauschild had just sealed his fate as a Rule 5 bust, and the team seemed to be in disarray. It was less than 24 hours since Yu Darvish had imploded after being handed a lead, and the Rangers response to that meltdown was a completely uninspired performance in what became a 9-1 loss.
Fast forward four days and in many ways the Rangers have righted the wrongs that had so aggressively ailed them during the first two weeks of the season. In their four games series versus the Royals, the Rangers starting pitchers were incredible—and, more critically, their bullpen was just as good. The Rangers offense got key hits when they were needed, and we continued to see growth out of Joey Gallo while getting timely (if not entirely surprising) power out of the best backup catcher in baseball, Robinson Chirinos.
So here we sit on Sunday afternoon basking in the glow of a four-game sweep. The formula for success was quite simple for the Rangers this weekend, and Sunday was no different: strong innings from the starter, clutch power and timely hitting, and lock-down bullpen work.
This time out, Yu Darvish went 8 strong; the bash brothers made another cameo; the bullpen did their job efficiently; and the Rangers clean-up hitter-for-a-day, Elvis Andrus, even came through with an RBI base knock. There was nothing overtly spectacular about Sunday afternoons game and yet it was everything that Jeff Banister and Co. could’ve wanted. The Rangers simply played good baseball in all three phases of the game, something that Banister has continually stressed is important to the Rangers turning things around.
On Wednesday, after the Rangers loss to Oakland, Banister said,“It starts with playing good baseball. Defense today was not necessarily a challenge for us, but it starts off the mound, where we get good starts and quality at bats, and then you get good relief appearances. It’s a very simple formula.”
For the most part, the Rangers executed this formula to perfection all series long; they continued their execution on Sunday: the starting pitching was fantastic; the bullpen was lights out; and the offense, although still struggling, was able to do just enough.
Pitching: Yu Darvish responds and Matt Bush did closer things
Tuesday night was not a good night for Yu Darvish. After pitching 5 dominant innings, Darvish was handed a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the 6th; he didn’t make it out of the inning. The Rangers went on to lose the game, and several people including Jeff Banister and pitching coach Doug Brocail, questioned Darvish’s execution of the game plan.
Heading into Sunday afternoon, the Rangers had won three straight and had the chance for a sweep. This is the type of game your ace has to win for you. Pitching at home and opposing a starter in Jason Hammel that is far from Kansas City’s ace, Yu Darvish needed to get the win for the Rangers—and he did.
The most impressive part of this start for Darvish was the the way he responded when, in the top of the third inning, he seemed to be having an Oakland moment. After recording two quick outs, Darvish gave up back-to-back home runs to Mike Moustakas and Jorge Bonifacio. Eric Hosmer followed with a single, and once again it seemed that Darvish was beginning to lose control.
To his credit, he was able to collect himself; going by his work thereafter, it seems he made the decision that Kansas City would do nothing else for the rest of the afternoon. After the Hosmer single, Yu went on to face the minimum the rest of the way, and left the game after 8 innings with a 5-2 lead. Included in that stretch of dominance for Darvish was a shutdown inning in the top of the fifth after the Rangers gave him his first lead of the afternoon.
In Oakland, that spot was just where things fell apart for Darvish; on Sunday, he needed just 11 pitches to sit Kansas City down in order. That inning was important for Darvish and his manager, who had this to say:
“That’s Yu Darvish. There are a lot of times that guys like this make our decisions easy based on a look and what you see, the stuff, and them continuing to get outs. I know that Yu is as competitive as anybody else, and I think he went out there with a mission today to throw the ball well.”
For the day, Yu Darvish was a strike-throwing machine. Of his 113 pitches, 79 were strikes—an even 70% strike rate. Darvish also had impeccable control, as well, walking just one while striking out eight batters.
Give Yu Darvish a ton of credit for his performance on Sunday. There is no doubt that he was affected by what happened last week in Oakland and, yet, he was able to channel that into one of his best starts of the year.
Matt Bush also deserves credit for giving Rangers fans NOTHING to worry about in the 9th inning.
Bush came into the game and was efficient, needing just 14 pitches to dispatch the Royals in order and earn his first save of the year. Since being named the new Rangers closer, Bush had pitched successfully in several high-leverage situations despite not having an opportunity in a save situation. Sunday afternoon, that situation changed, and Bush left no doubt, at least for today, that he was the right choice for the job.
Hitting: Still doing just enough
You know that the offense is not yet clicking when Elvis Andrus gets a shot as your clean-up hitter. That’s right: for the first time in his career, Elvis was in the clean-up spot; to his credit, he responded with an RBI single to give the Rangers their first run of the game. Joey Gallo and Robinson Chirinos also stepped up with solo shot home runs to solidify their status as offensive co-MVPs of the series.
The team as a whole, though, continued to struggle at the plate.
Even though the Rangers scored 14 runs this series, in two of those games, they managed just 3 runs in 22 total innings. In the other two games, it was Gallo and Chirinos doing all the heavy lifting: they each contributed 3 home runs during the series.
Home runs have a tendency to mask problems on offense just as good starting pitching does. The Rangers got both of those things this weekend and so, at least for now, we can forget about the hitting woes and enjoy what the Rangers achieved over all.
Still, despite what Earl Weaver or the modern-day Orioles might contend, though both can be cornerstones, an offense cannot survive a season living on home runs alone. The 2016 Rangers lived on the timely hitting and lock-down bullpen work that led to a ridiculously good record in 1-run games. That trend, predictably, is not holding form this year.
It’s best to have a balance of hot and cold hitters, because these things work cyclically through a baseball season for most major leaguers. Right now, it’s not who is cold for the Rangers, as much as it is how many of the Rangers are cold. A good 2/3 of the lineup continues to struggle. As they move on to face a cold Minnesota Twins team, the Rangers’ coldest set of hitters (also the core of their lineup) have to find their heat at the plate. You never want an entire lineup streaking at once, any more than you want a team-wide slump.
And no, it doesn’t have to mean 3-run homers. We’ll go with singles in bunches and take our chances.
Notable Quotes:
Joey Gallo was asked about his ability to have fun playing baseball this year. His response shed further light on how his off-season has played a large role in his improved play this year.
“In the off-season you kind of have a lot of time to think and, you know, everybody is always jealous that we get to play baseball for a living—but we don’t always view it that way; it’s our job. This year I wanted to enjoy every moment I have on the field and enjoy being with these guys a little more, and I think just that ‘comfortability’ is helping me a little bit to progress and feel better out there.“
Moving Forward
The Rangers reward for playing so well this weekend is to come back and play again tomorrow night. Into town come the Minnesota Twins, who head to Texas having lost 6 of 7, including a 13-4 shellacking on Sunday at the hands of the Detroit Tigers. They’re also likely to be on edge, as the Detroit series featured an ugly pitch to the face of the Tigers’ JaCoby Jones and a subsequent clearing of the benches on a Tigers pitch behind Miguel Sano.
Don’t expect the Rangers to change their game plan at all. Just know: they’re facing a team on edge, which usually is either very good or very bad; there’s not much gray when you’ve been seeing red. With a young Twins team, that excess energy might signal an aggressiveness the Rangers pitchers can exploit at the plate—as long as they set up ownership of the inside corner, early and often, as they did throughout this Royals series.
On paper, you would expect the Rangers offense to continue struggling against a Twins team with a very good ERA, but the Twins have not been pitching well lately. In their last 7 games, the Twins have given up a total of 41 runs, after giving up just 30 in their first 11.
Stay tuned to Shutdown Inning for a full series preview before it all gets started again tomorrow night at 7:05 in Arlington.
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