Rangers 7, Royals 6
- What a weird game.
- Kumar Rocker went six shutout innings despite walking more batters (3) than he struck out (2).
- Rocker wasn’t missing bats — he got 9 swings and misses on 85 pitches — and he gave up a good amount of hard contact. And although he’s usually a ground ball pitcher, the Royals put a bunch of balls in the air against him.
- But he still kept Kansas City off the board. The biggest jam he got into was in the third inning, when a single and a pair of walks resulted in a bases loaded, two out situation, but Rocker got Salvador Perez to ground out to end the inning.
- Rocker even ended up retiring the final nine batters he faced. He left the game with a 3-0 lead, and surely, with the Rangers’ bullpen going up against a bad Royals offense, Rocker would end up with the win.
- Right?
- Of course not. Things don’t work out that easily for the Rangers.
- Tyler Alexander and Jakob Junis combined to strike out the side in the seventh. That would be much more exciting news if the Royals didn’t also bat around in the seventh, with a double, four singles and another double plating four runs and turning the 3-0 lead into a 4-3 deficit.
- Alexander did get credit for a Hold, however, because the Rangers were still up when he left the game. This, despite retiring just one of four batters he faced. That’s kind of funny.
- Chris Martin exacerbated things in the eighth inning, issuing a walk to start the inning and then giving up a homer to Carter Jensen.
- Chris Martin is now sporting a 7.84 ERA, a 7.56 xERA and a 6.35 FIP. That makes me sad.
- Texas had gotten on the board in the first on a Josh Jung home run, then scored a pair of unearned runs in the fourth thanks to an E5 on a fielder’s choice that resulted in runners on first and second with no one out. Alejandro Osuna bunted the runners over, but in doing so hurt his finger and ultimately had to leave the game, because of course what the Rangers really need right now is more injured hitters.
- Anyway, the Rangers scored two in the fourth, with offensive catalyst Nicky Lopez singling home the second of those two runs.
- I know y’all are fired up about Nicky Lopez.
- The Rangers rallied in the eighth and were in position to tie the game, as a Jake Burger double, Ezequiel Duran walk, and Danny Jansen double made it a 6-4 game with runners on second and third and one out. Justin Foscue, pinch hitting for Lopez, popped out, and then Michael Helman, for some reason, tried a two out bunt but popped it up for the third out.
- At this point I was all prepared to talk in the thoughts post about how this is what happens when you are relying on the likes of Justin Foscue and Michael Helman to take key at bats and drive home runs late in the game. You fall short and you end up losing and that’s the way it is.
- But instead I can talk about how you should never lose hope, you should never give up, you should always keep believing.
- Joc Pederson led off the ninth with a home run, his eighth of the season, one fewer than he had all last year.
- The Rangers were suddenly down just one.
- Josh Jung smoked a ball into the hole at shortstop that Bobby Witt Jr. made a great diving stop on. Jung, not the fleetest Ranger, seemed like he’d be a dead duck at first base. Witt rushed the throw to first, however, and it went way wide, resulting in Jung getting credit for an infield single.
- Brandon Nimmo then hit a chopper back up the middle. If Lucas Erceg, the Royals reliever, lets it go past him, it is probably a double play. However, Erceg tries to make a play on it, and it caroms off his glove. Nimmo beats the throw to first for an infield single.
- Can you feel the momentum building? Were you sensing a miraculous comeback was at hand?
- Or were you convinced that this was a tease, that the Rangers were just setting things up for a heartbreaking loss?
- Jake Burger swung at a 2-0 pitch but didn’t get good wood on the ball. It ended up working out for the best, as he flared the ball the other way, just beyond the infield into right field, for a game-tying single.
- That set the stage for Ezequiel Duran, who blooped a 1-1 pitch the opposite way. It fell in front of Royals right fielder Jac Caglianone. Brandon Nimmo, at third, broke home once the ball fell in, and slid in ahead of the throw.
- Ballgame. A walk off win.
- And the first ever major league win for Peyton Gray, whose scoreless ninth inning kept the Rangers in position to make the comeback.
- Think how made Royals fans must be about this game. The Pederson homer to get the game within one. Then two infield hits, followed by a flare and a bloop, and your team lost.
- Its just the second time this season that a reliever has gotten walked off while facing at least five batters and retiring none of them. The other one was Jordan Romano against the Angels last month.
- And it is only the second time in Rangers history that the Rangers have walked it off in such a scenario. The only other time was in 2008, when Fernando Rodney faced six Rangers, retired nine of them, and was walked off on a Chris Davis bases loaded single.
- Joc Pederson’s homer was 108.0 mph. Brandon Nimmo had a 104.6 mph groundout, a 104.1 mph fly out and a 102.8 mph single. Josh Jung had a 102.2 mph homer and a 101.1 mph single. Jake Burger had a 101.9 mph single.
- Kumar Rocker’s fastball topped out at 94.9 mph, averaging 93.4 mph. Tyler Alexander touched 92.7 mph with his fastball. Jakob Junis hit 94.9 mph with his sinker. Chris Martin’s fastball reached 94.7 mph. Peyton Gray maxed out at 93.6 mph with his fastball.
- Let’s go sweeping on Sunday.