What a pitching performance by the Rangers on Whataburger Night at the ballpark in Arlington!
The first 15,000 fans through the gates at Globe Life Field on Tuesday received a flat-billed Rangers/Whataburger mashup ball cap, and the majority of the visiting Phillies hitters received a trip back to the bench as the Rangers nipped visiting Philadelphia 7–0.
Rangers ace Martin Perez was on the hill for a start. He tossed six scoreless innings to push his record to 5–2 on the year while lowering his ERA to 1.96.
“In the union is strength,” Perez posted on his Instagram. “With nothing to stop us — Fifth Victory — Let’s go for more.”
Perez yielded just six hits in the outing, walked three (all to Rhys Hoskins), and fanned six. His ERA is fifth-best in MLB and second-best in the AL (topped only by Shane McClanahan, who boasts an earned run average of 1.81 for the Rays).
“He’s setting such a good example for so many players on our team, especially our pitchers, obviously,” Rangers skipper Chris Woodward said of Perez. “He’s been pitching really well, obviously, the understatement of the year. But just the way he navigates through any difficult moment, guys get on base … they put a little pressure on the times.”
While Perez was cooking early on, the Rangers were a tad lukewarm at the plate to start the day. Both ballclubs posted goose eggs on the scoreboard through the first four and a half innings before the Texas bats came alive and belted four home runs.
Nathanial Lowe’s two-out tater in the bottom of the fifth was his ninth home run of the season and gave the Rangers a 1–0 lead. The next Ranger to the dish was Jonah Heim, who also belted a solo dinger, his ninth, for a 2–0 lead.
Corey Seager wrapped a single to the left in the bottom of the sixth to plate Marcus Semien, who belted a one-out double ahead of Seager’s at-bat, moving the lead to 3–0, Texas. Semien, who would go 3-for-4 at the plate, raised his batting average to .231 on the year after a slow start to the season (he has batted .367 in the last 15 games). He spanked a 2-run shot in the bottom of the eighth for his seventh home run of the season.
Kole Calhoun added icing to the Ranger-cake by hitting a homer, number eight on the year, and scored Adolis Garcia, who singled his way onto the basepath for a 7–0 lead.
Matt Bush, Dennis Santana, and Brock Burke each notched a scoreless inning of relief pitching after Perez’s departure from the game, with Bush and Santana each earning holds.
The win pushed Texas to 32–35 and, combined with an Angels loss (33–38), places the Rangers second in the AL West, 10 games behind front-running Houston (42–25).
Game two against the Phillies is slated for 3:05 CDT Wednesday in Arlington, with probable pitchers Jon Grey (2-3, 4.27) on the bump for Texas and Zack Wheeler (6-3, 2.96) pitching for Philadelphia.