34-19 - Seager’s swat helps Rangers to 5-0 series-opening win
The Texas Rangers scored five runs while the Detroit Tigers did not score a run.
I will preface this by saying that I don’t think the home plate umpire did an especially poor job today. More often than not, he seemed to call the close pitches correctly. But he also had a very tight strike zone and that seemed to annoy like 80% of the people on the field at various points throughout the afternoon.
One of those people, and perhaps the most aggrieved, was potential May Pitcher of the Month Nathan Eovaldi who just seemed to be in a foul mood as he labored. Between the tight zone and a patient Tigers lineup, Eovaldi walked a very uncharacteristic three batters and only made it through five innings on his 95 pitches today after weeks of being extremely efficient.
But even with the outing featuring a few too many free passes and a few innings shorter than we’ve grown accustomed to, Eovaldi still tossed five scoreless frames — including one in which he escaped the Rangers’ fourth bases loaded, no out situation in the last few weeks — while allowing four hits and striking out four.
An early exit for Eovaldi meant Texas was asked to get four innings from their relievers and, perhaps thanks to a few late-innings insurance runs to take the edge off, the bullpen was finally up to the task with a trio of Brock Burke, Jonathan Hernandez, and Jose Leclerc closing this one out without too many issues.
Hernandez had to work through a second inning and Leclerc had to find the strike zone but they didn’t allow things to get out of hand and came out of their outings unscathed.
The win once again runs the Rangers to 15 games above .500 and allows them to avoid their 20th loss of the season.
Player of the Game: The Rangers were having a bit of trouble getting rallies going against Tigers starter Matthew Boyd a couple of times through the order but by the time the lineup turned over a second time, Texas was ready. None more so than the Rangers’ $325 million dollar shortstop.
Seager’s two-out, three-run dong was basically the only swing that Texas needed today. Overall Seager went 2-for-5 and drove in four of the Rangers’ five runs.
Up Next: The Rangers and Tigers are back at it tomorrow with Texas turning to LHP Martin Perez to pitch opposite RHP Alex Faedo.
The Tuesday evening first pitch from Comerica Park is scheduled for 5:40 pm CT and will be viewable via BS Southwest.
Source: Lone Star Ball
