A winning streak. 91 comments


Joey Gallo drives an opposite field home run, his eighth of the season, in the bottom of the first to cap a four-run inning.

 

Two wins in a row.

For the second time this season, the Rangers have won two in a row. For the first time in nine tries, they have won the first game of a series. Baby steps.

And it’s the babies who are doing it.

It was the youthful heart of their order that did the damage last night against the Blue Jays in the Rangers 6-4 victory in Toronto.

Batting fourth, Nomar Mazara got three hits and drove in two.

Batting fifth, Joey Gallo got two hits, including a home run, and drove in two.

Batting sixth, Isiah Kiner-Falefa was 1-for-3.

Batting seventh, Ronald Guzman got two hits and drove in two.

Those four batters went 8-for-13 and drive in all six Rangers runs, four of them in the first inning.

Don’t look now but the injury-riddled Rangers are playing better without their injured players.

Elvis Andrus played in fourteen games this season before he was injured, and has missed thirteen. The Rangers are 4-10 when he played, or .286. They are 6-7 in the games he has not played, or .462.

Rougned Odor has played in eleven games. Texas was 4-7 in games in which Odor played, a .364 winning percentage. They are 6-10 without him, .375.

And when Adrian Beltre plays this year, the Rangers are 7-17 (.292). They are 3-0 in games he hasn’t played, a perfect 1.000 winning percentage.

Of course, nobody wants the Rangers to play without their regular infield. But any notion that injuries are killing them is really unfounded. And maybe getting to know these replacements will make it easier when they trade away team favorites the deadline.

This team wasn’t strong with their regulars, and they aren’t strong without them.

What they are, though, for the first time this year, is an offense that’s fun to watch.

How long can these kids keep it up? Right now, who cares? The Rangers won the opening game of a series. And that’s newsworthy.

Three in a row? One can dream.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

Bartolo Colon (0-0, 2.59) vs. Jaime Garcia (2-1, 4.57)
Game time: 3:07

How the Rangers hit against Garcia.
How the Blue Jays hit against Colon.