Thoughts on a 3-1 Rangers win

Rangers 3, Dodgers 1

• Winning low scoring games! Let’s get hyped!
• I mentioned in a comment recently that Michael Lorenzen’s performance so far this season was driven primarily by a high strand rate and low BABIP, neither of which is sustainable. Well, in this game, Lorenzen stranded all four of the baserunners he allowed that didn’t reach via a homer, and allowed a .143 average on balls in play.
• So he sustained it for at least another game, and I will take that.
• Lorenzen’s ERA on the year is now down to 2.86, which, I think, exceeds all our expectations for him coming into the year.
• David Robertson and Kirby Yates each struck out the side, if you are one of those folks who has a liberal interpretation of striking out the side, as compared to the purists who think striking out the side means only facing three batters.
• Robertson allowed a HBP and a hit to bring the go-ahead run to the plate with no outs in the eighth. He then struck out Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman swinging for the second night in a row. Clearly he just wants to take advantage of the soft underbelly of the Dodgers lineup, that Betts-Ohtani-Freeman section.
• Kirby Yates walked the leadoff batter in the ninth because we want to make the late innings exciting for everyone, before he registered his three swinging Ks.
• Yates also had a balk. And you know, I am good with a Robertson HBP and a Yates balk because it allows for notations at the bottom of the box score, and keeps that section of the box score from being too dull.
• While all the Ranger runs on Wednesday came via a Corey Seager home run, Corey Seager wasn’t in the lineup on Thursday, so going with that as Plan A wasn’t an option.
• Instead, Texas picked up a pair of runs in the first on an RBI groundout by Nathaniel Lowe and a Wyatt Langford single, and another run in the third on a run-scoring Wyatt Langford single.
• The Rangers got two hits apiece from Josh Smith and Adolis Garcia, as well as Langford. Garcia, you may have heard, has been in a wee bit of a slump, so picking up a pair of hits — and drawing a walk as well — that’s a good ‘un for him.
• Langford’s two hits, we should probably note, weren’t exactly scorched — together they added up to just 126.1 mph in exit velocity. But we won’t get wound up about that right now.
• And did somebody say “small ball”? Wyatt Langford stole a pair of bases, Josh Smith had a sacrifice bunt, and Marcus Semien…well, he got caught stealing, but nonetheless.
• Michael Lorenzen’s sinker hit 95.9 mph. David Robertson’s sinker reached 96.1 mph. Kirby Yates’ fastball touched 94.5 mph.
• Nathaniel Lowe had a 105.4 mph ground out. Leody Taveras had a 102.9 mph groundout and fly outs at 101.9 and 100.2 mph. Marcus Semien had a 100.1 mph single. Wyatt Langford had a 100.0 mph ground out.
• However they got there, it was a series win. On to Seattle.