Rangers Reaction: Feeling at ease, Moore triumphant in return to the Trop

True to his word, Texas Rangers left-hander Martin Perez studied video of his Monday night stinker to find if he was tipping pitches in an 8-4 loss.

He had answer: Kind of.

It wasn't a pronounced tip, like he dealt with last season, but a mechanical flaw that allowed Tampa Bay Rays hitters to clearly see the ball coming out of his hand.

As Perez explained it, he wasn't getting his arm high enough quickly enough, and the resulting lower arm slot gave hitters a clear view of the grip of his pitches.

"If I get on top of the ball, they can't see my pitches," Perez said. “But if I come from the side, they recognize it quicker."

So, he and pitching coach Doug Brocail worked at Tropicana Field on the delivery, and Perez again seems confident that he has found an answer for his woes.

A confident Perez is always better for the Rangers.

Here's some Rangers Reaction from a 7-2 victory.

1. Matt Moore sure needed that, and it probably isn't a coincidence that he had to return to his MLB birthplace to get it.

The left-hander shined in his old home ballpark, against his first team, as he easily notched his finest start of the season. He became the second Rangers pitcher this season to reach the seventh inning, and the only mark against him in seven innings was an unearned run as he won for the first time in four starts.

Moore sensed that he was moving in the right direction last week after allowing three runs in five innings to the Los Angeles Angels. He threw 96 pitches in that one, and only 93 against the Rays while recording six more outs.

He commanded his four-seam fastball and had his best breaking ball and changeup of the season. Being back inside the Trop, with all the comforts someone who plays here regularly gets to know, helped.

"You know what to expect," Moore said. "You know where everything's at. It's probably one of my more favorite mounds."

The start hasn't answered all the questions about Moore. He will have to do it again next week against Oakland at Globe Life Park and again and again against better lineups in ballparks where he isn't as comfortable.

But if one start, even if it comes in a cozy setting, can give a pitcher a sense of what he had been lacking, Moore might be on his way to the rebound season the Rangers were banking on when they acquired him in a December trade with San Francisco.

Check back next week.

2. The Rangers' offense wasn't coming up empty, with three sacrifice flies for its first runs of the game, but it was lacking the hit that would have done some real damage.

That hit came eventually, as Ronald Guzman again delivered on a night for the rookies.

Guzman's two-out, two-run double capped a three-run fifth and turned a 3-1 lead into 5-1. Shin-Soo Choo followed in the sixth with a homer off the D ring in right-center field.

Guzman has four RBIs in his first four career starts, and his bloop double Sunday helped the Rangers score twice in the 10th en route to a 3-1 victory over Houston.

Despite his size — he's taller than Joey Gallo and Nomar Mazara — he is more of a gap-to-gap hitter than he is a power hitter. Guzman has never hit more than 16 homers in a season in the minors.

"We're seeing it play out before our eyes," manager Jeff Banister said.

But he makes a ton of contact and his glove at first base is solid. He's a keeper, but Isiah Kiner-Falefa outdid him.

The infielder collected a career-high four hits in his first career game at shortstop after entering the game with two hits in his career. Carlos Tocci had two hits after entering the game with one.

If the Rangers have any chance at remaining afloat while Elvis Andrus, Delino DeShields and Rougned Odor are out, their young replacements can't be automatic outs.

They weren't Tuesday. They looked the part, and they are starting to feel more and more at ease in their big-league surroundings.

"It's just confidence," Kiner-Falefa said. "The biggest thing here is getting comfortable and confident. I saw the ball well and put good swings on it."

3. The Rangers loved Carlos Gomez during his time with them in 2016 and 2017, and he loved them back.

He wanted to return for this season so much that he reportedly chartered a helicopter to fly him to the Rangers' academy in the Dominican Republic during Jon Daniels' annual January trip there.

They loved that he's a competitor and a thorn in opponents' sides. But did they love it in the seventh inning when he was a thorn in their side, or, more specifically, Adrian Beltre's always vulnerable leg muscles?

Beltre singled to right field. He was hustling out of the box, but Gomez charged and threw to first for the out.

"I'd already looked down before Carlos threw to first," Banister said.

After Beltre beat the throw, he motioned to Gomez as if to say, 'What gives?' It was probably a little bit stronger than that. Gomez just looked back at him with a smirk on his face.

Beltre, as he usually does, smiled. It was a fun play, and his legs managed to survive the ordeal. But the last thing those legs needed was to be unnecessarily forced into a higher gear.

I'm not sure if there is an unwritten rule on such a thing. (Somebody check with Mike Scioscia, the keeper of the Book of Unwritten Rules.) But Gomez was hit on the shoulder by a Kevin Jepsen fastball his next time up.

He dropped the bat and went to first. He wasn't smirking.

Banister attempted to deflect any notion that the Rangers had a beef with Gomez.

"We've seen Carlos look to do those things for us," Banister said. "He's looking to make baseball plays. He is a baseball player."

This story was originally published April 17, 2018 at 9:55 PM with the headline "Rangers Reaction: Feeling at ease, Moore triumphant in return to the Trop."