The worry coming into the season about the Rangers thin rotation was real. It suddenly got even more real in the fifth inning of yesterday’s game when, with one out, Nathan Eovaldi had to come out of the game mid-batter.

The rotation that started with Eovaldi, Gray, Dunning, Heaney, and Bradford lost Bradford early on. That forced the Rangers to plug in Jack Leiter for one uneventful start until Michael Lorenzen was ready for the season.

Lorenzen plugged in nicely for Bradford. Heaney, in the meantime, has pitched himself out of the rotation. But the rotation keeps thinning out too much to banish him.

Heaney got another stay of execution yesterday when Eovaldi walked off the field early. 

All that Rangers fans can hope for is his injury isn’t serious. But, as we know so well, Rangers injuries are always more serious than reported, the time the player loses is always much longer than estimated.

Rather than bringing up Leiter again, maybe the Rangers give Cole Winn a chance for a start. In his seven innings pitched over five relief appearances, the twenty-four-year-old righty Winn has been dominating. No hits, no runs, one walk, seven strikeouts. 

Hopefully, the news on Eovaldi isn’t bad and he doesn’t miss a start. But that’s a pipe dream.

The old adage that says you can never have enough pitching is an old adage for a reason. It’s right.

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TODAY’S GAME: