Kolby Allard was one of the few bright spots last season. After coming to Texas in a trade with Atlanta for reliever Chris Martin, the then twenty-two-year-old started nine games, winning four and losing two. The Rangers won six of those nine games. It was encouraging.

His ERA wasn’t the best, 6.50, but he was young, left-handed, and wasn’t drafted by Jon Daniels, which meant he had the possibility of future success.

But when the Rangers went into the season with Kluber, Lynn, and Minor in their rotation, and Gibson and Lyles at the back end, it seemed Allard wasn’t going to get much of a chance.

But Kluber lasted one inning, and Lyles reverted back to Lyles, and there is nobody else in the system even close to being close, so Allard was thrust into the Rangers rotation. 

In this season that’s not really real, where there is no minor league system in which to develop, Allard was tossed into the rotation without a lot of throwing. 

He had a few less-than-noteworthy starts. Then Rangers manager Chris Woodward said they figured out what was wrong with Allard.

And Wednesday night, he took the best team in the American League through five innings without a hit.

He slipped a bit to start the sixth and ended up giving up his first hit and a couple runs. With the Rangers offense, that is almost an automatic loss.

But winning isn’t what matters in 2020. What matters is building for the future. Allard probably won’t be around when the Rangers are finally relevant again in 2026 but if he pitches as well as he did Wednesday night, he could bring a piece or two that will help the team in the future.

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TODAY’S GAME:

Dustin May (1-1, 2.79) vs. Mike Minor (0-5, 6.75)

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