The Texas Rangers still are seeking answers for their inconsistent offense, but their pitching staff appears more than equipped to keep the team in contention for now.
The Rangers will aim for their season-high fifth straight victory when they continue a three-game series against the host St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.
Jacob deGrom threw five shutout innings to earn his 100th career victory and lead Texas to a 2-1 win on Monday.
Masyn Winn’s home run in the sixth was the lone hit over the final four innings for the Cardinals, who lost for the sixth time in their last eight games.
“I thought we took some pretty good at-bats against (deGrom),” Winn said. “Had some pretty good swings. We got his pitch count up pretty early, and then he came back with some tough at-bats. He’s a veteran pitcher with good velo, and we were just trying to take good at-bats.”
The outing by deGrom — he gave up four hits, walked one and struck out eight — marked another impressive showing by the Rangers’ starting pitchers, who have 27 consecutive scoreless innings. The streak is the longest for Texas since July 9-16, 2011, when the run ended after 30 1/3 scoreless frames.
“I think this is what we envisioned in the offseason,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “We had a really good offseason as far as acquiring MacKenzie Gore. We thought Jack Leiter and (Kumar) Rocker or (Jacob) Latz were going to take the next step … It’s been fun to watch.”
Latz, a left-hander, has back-to-back saves and has emerged as the team’s closer. He retired St. Louis in order in the ninth on Monday for his eighth save.
“I have a lot of confidence in Jacob,” Schumaker said. “Everybody in that clubhouse does. We can utilize him in lefty lanes, righty lanes. It doesn’t really matter. He has lights-out stuff. He has swing-and-miss stuff for righties and lefties.”
Before getting only two runs on Monday, Texas scored 22 runs over its previous three games.
Tuesday’s pitching matchup will feature two right-handers as the Cardinals’ Dustin May (3-6, 4.57 ERA) opposes the Rangers’ Nathan Eovaldi (5-6, 3.93).
May, 28, took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against Milwaukee last Wednesday before the Brewers rallied for a 2-1 victory. May allowed two hits and two runs (one earned) with nine strikeouts and no walks while throwing 62 of his 87 pitches for strikes.
“The way his ball was coming out was really, really good,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “Fastball was good, sweeper was incredible, cutter, all of it. I enjoyed watching him get after it.”
Brandon Nimmo has two hits in six at-bats against May, who will make his second career start vs. Texas. He gave up two runs over six innings in a no-decision against the Rangers as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 28, 2020.
Texas will counter with Eovaldi, who allowed five runs over seven innings in a 5-1 home loss to the Houston Astros on Thursday.
Eovaldi, 36, went 2-2 with a 2.79 ERA in four starts in May covering 29 innings. He owns a 1-2 record and a 3.64 ERA in five career starts vs. St. Louis.
–Field Level Media
