Davis Wendzel rounds second after hitting his first major league home run. Every game it seems you look up and it’s the fourth or fifth inning and the Rangers are being no-hit. Yesterday, they didn’t get their first baserunner until Semien walked in the fourth. He was, of course, left there. Finally, Josh Smith got a hit in the fifth, a double, when, at the time the score was only 3-0. But he was, of course, left there. By the time the Reds had scored their eighth run, it was the eighth inning and the Rangers still had only that one hit and that one walk.  They finally broke through in th ..read more

Kirby Yates has been perfect in his time as Rangers closer. You’ve got to hand it to Nathan Eovaldi. Even when he doesn’t have his best stuff, he battles. Last night he walked five batters, three in the first inning alone, to put himself into a hole 1-0. Once again, the Rangers allowed first-inning runs and had to fight from behind. Yes, he gave up five walks. But he allowed only three hits. Struck out eight. He left runners stranded in the first, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth. And only that one first-inning run. An Evan Carter solo shot in the second and a Marcus Semien solo shot in the eig ..read more

All is not bad when the Astros are 7-19. Twenty-six games into the season and the Rangers are treading water, trying to find their footing, trying to get something to work consistently. There are bright skies on the horizon, though. Josh Sborz was activated off the IL yesterday. That gives Bochy three relievers he can trust, along with Robertson and Yates. Max Scherzer threw his first rehab outing at Round Rock on Wednesday. He threw fifty-two pitches. The rest of the numbers don’t matter. All that matters is, he will make another start, build up to seventy pitches, then another one to get to ..read more

Adolis Garcia watches the Rangers 25-inning scoreless streak vanish over the centerfield wall. Rangers fans learned something new last night. If a ball struck by a player wearing a Texas Rangers uniform goes over the outfield wall, that player can automatically run the bases and return home without fear of being tagged out. It is called a home run.  The Rangers Adolis Garcia tried one last night. They liked it so much, Evan Carter tried one right after that.  And, just like that, their streak of twenty-five scoreless innings at home vanished. Before they left for their ten-game road ..read more

Evan Carter is still playing elite defense dispite his struggles at the plate. Major league pitching is hard. Unforgivingly hard. Major league scouting departments are good. Really good. Evan Carter is discovering both of those truths. When he came up last year, everything clicked right away. The Rangers brought him up out of desperation. Adolis Garcia was injured, the season was falling off the rails, they couldn’t stop the bleeding. When Carter arrived, he had nothing to lose. No pressure. He wasn’t expected to be the savior or anything, just fill in until Garcia got back. So, all he did was ..read more

The Rangers are waiting for Corey Seager to shift into Beast Mode. The Rangers just finished a brutal stretch of seventeen games in seventeen days, with the final ten of those games on the road in Houston, Detroit, and Atlanta. Texas went 8-9 in that stretch, including 3-4 at home and 5-5 on the road. It just seemed like it was worse. The offense has yet to click, and it’s mainly because there is a huge hole in the heart of the lineup. Corey Seager is showing the effects of getting a late start in spring training after coming back from surgery. He was coming off what was, by far, his best offe ..read more

Evan Carter leads off the fourth with a solo home run that ignited the Rangers offense. The Rangers salvaged one game out of the three in Atlanta. That’s actually a good thing. Beating Atlanta is hard, the Braves are the best team, by far, in baseball.  The best part was, when it looked like the Rangers would fold, they actually got back up, dusted themselves off, and thrived. Instead of falling three games in a row, and following under .500 for the first time in Bruce Bochy’s Texas Rangers career, the Rangers fought back. It was conforting to see. Down 3-0 after five batters, it looked l ..read more

Was bringing in Jon Gray from the bullpen a cry for help from Bruce Bochy? So, after twenty-two games, do the Rangers officially have a bullpen dilemma? Tied 2-2 against the much more superior Atlanta Braves, the Rangers went to their bullpen after Nathan Eovaldi struggled finding the strike zone and piled up a pitch count. But, being the ace he is, even though he had issued six walks, a hit batter, and five basehits in 5.1 innings, he had allowed only three runs. But then manager Bruce Bochy did something curious and quite telling. He brought in starter Jon Gray instead of any of the alleged ..read more

Another satisfied three-home-run night customer, courtesy of Jacob Latz. Are you a backup catcher who is only playing because the regular catcher is injured? Are you a catcher who nobody pays attention to on a team that nobody cares about? Do you need that one big, monumental day at the plate that you can be remembered for in an otherwise forgettable career, without the harmful effects of Barry Bondsing it? Do you need a special game you can talk to your grandkids about one day? Well, friend, you’re in luck. The Texas Rangers Anonymous Catcher Appreciation Department is heading to your town. T ..read more

Jack Leiter’s numbers might not look great in his major league debut, but he deserved better. It started off well enough. He struck out the first batter he faced. And the third. He allowed two baserunners in the first but didn’t break, getting out of it without a run scoring. The second inning was a different story. Staked to a 4-0 lead, he threw his fastball over the heart of the plate too often, and it got hit. For a single. For a double. For a triple. And for another single.  When the onslaught was over, the score was tied 4-4. But when the Rangers scored two more in the top of the th ..read more