Jeff Banister must be a sadist.
Why else does someone, in a razor thin 2-0 game, decide to insert Ross Detwiler into the mix?
Maybe he has a mean streak. Or maybe he just realizes luck is on his side so he is bulletproof.
Maybe he’s the kind of guy who likes dropping a lit match in a gas can. Or petting a lion cub when its mom is a few feet away. Or sky diving without a chute. Or marrying a Kardashian.
Who brings Ross Detwiler into any game that is on the line?
Hey, look, an open electrical line. What would happen if I licked it?
Hey, look, a loaded gun. What would happen if I pointed it at my foot and pulled the trigger?
Hey, look, a two-run lead. What would happen if I brought in Ross Detwiler?
Detwiler is 0-5 with an ERA of 6.95 for a reason. He is, statistically, one of the least effective pitchers in the American League. He is the open electrical wire, the loaded gun, the parachute that doesn’t open.
If you want to see how Detwiler will perform in his new role, you put him into a game only that you are winning by seven or more runs, with a really short leash. Or into a game when you are down by six runs and it’s hopeless.
You do not put Ross Detwiler into any game you have hopes to win.
Detwiler is April Rangers. June Rangers have no place for him.
Luckily the fates of June outruled the ghosts of April and Detwiler, as bad as he was in his brief time on the mound, did not drop his meat in the dirt. It’s not for trying.
Tolleson, the closer who isn’t, was able to close it out for his eighth consecutive save. Nick Martinez got the well deserved W in a game he was brilliant in. The Rangers beat Sonny Gray, their arch nemesis. The Rangers won 2-1, setting the team record for best road record to start a season. And Ross Detwiler walked off the mound without earning the L for the first time as a Ranger.
That’s even more unlikely than the Rangers being two games out of first place.