It seems to always boil down to pitching for these Rangers. As the team teeters around the .500 mark, with hot stretches followed by abysmal cold stretches that rival the worst an arctic winter could muster, it seems more evident that the continued experimentation of bringing in pitching reclamation projects is just not working consistently.
Mike Minor has been tremendous and his 2.74 ERA is miraculous, his run support has been lacking otherwise his 5-4 record would be better. Lance Lynn is turning into an innings eater and with a 7-4 record and an ERA that has finally dropped to 4.50 has provided the team with a 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation. His ERA for the month of May was 3.82. Ariel Jurado is getting a chance to prove himself and through a couple of starts shows promise as his May, ERA was 2.63. Adrian Sampson is 4-3 with an ERA of 4.14 and looks to be breaking out of needing an opener. Drew Smyly the final Rangers starter is still struggling some with an ERA of 6.98 a 1-3 record and only 38 innings so far.
The team had a good May in terms of pitching. One reason for the success is Lynn delivering as it was hoped. Another factor is using the opener role by inserting a relief pitcher to start the game. Give a little credit to the coaching staff for putting pitchers in situations that have the best chances for success. Bringing in the younger guys and placing them in winnable situations, while building their confidence has helped. Moving Shelby Miller to the bullpen seems to be working well too with his dominant fastball.
The team is in the middle of their longest homestand of the season. These 11 games against the Royals, which saw the team, win 3 of 4, now the Orioles come to town. These should be winnable games against a struggling team. They finish the homestand with 4 games against the A’s, which have been tough on the Rangers this season. There is a doubleheader on Saturday for a makeup game from 4/13. The Rangers have been a tough team to beat at home and have struggled on the road. The team has a real shot at a nice run with these home games before traveling to Boston and Cincinnati.
Another schedule advantage is that outside of the Red Sox, and Rays, all of the other teams they play in June have losing records. This means that the team has a good shot of going on a run despite the injury to Joey Gallo. Speaking of Gallo, he seems to have turned the corner with his game this season and has become an exciting player to watch. Now if they can somehow get Roughned Odor jump-started that will help too.
It is an interesting season, and while my good friend Ben Dieter may ultimately be right on the Rangers finish, you just can’t argue the fact that they are now 3-games over .500, with a very winnable stretch of games on the horizon. It has been a fun season so far, my recommendation is to just keep following, and let’s see how the pitching continues to develop.
