Rangers reaction: Bartolo Colon still chasing history
Cole Hamels is heading to the Chicago Cubs. That is the Texas Rangers’ news of the day.
Neither team has announced the deal as they review medicals and wait for MLB to approve money changing hands, but it is expected to be completed soon. Hamels’ locker had been cleared out by the end of Thursday’s game.
That trumped the actual game, another loss for the Rangers. The A’s completed a four-game sweep with a 7-6 victory, outscoring the Rangers by a combined 41-24 and overcoming deficits of eight runs on Tuesday and four runs on Wednesday.
On to the reaction –
1. Colon’s chase. Bartolo Colon didn’t have his best stuff and the wait for him to pass Dennis Martinez for most wins by a Latin American lingers on. He allowed six runs on nine hits over seven innings, but he finished strong with three shutout innings.
“I felt good,” said Colon, who threw a season-high 106 pitches. “The most important thing that I was able to do was battle at the end and give us a chance to win. We’ll see it next time.”
With the strong finish and the game hanging in the balance at 6-5 in the sixth and seventh innings, it wasn’t far-fetched that the Rangers could have pulled out a victory and put Colon in line for the record-setting win.
That didn’t happen, but yours truly researched just how many of Colon’s 245 wins came when he allowed at least six earned runs. How many? One.
Colon, pitching for the Cleveland Indians, won a game on May 17, 1999 when he allowed nine earned runs to the Chicago White Sox. He’s won six games when allowing five earned runs in his career.
Asked about the record chase lingering on, Colon said: “I don’t think about it. If it’s going to come, it’s going to come. When it comes, I’ll get it.”
2. All about development. The Rangers aren’t contenders this season. Instead, they’re focused on development.
That’s why manager Jeff Banister never thought about intentionally walking A’s slugger Khris Davis even though Davis is on a hot streak. Davisgot the best of Jose Leclerc on Wednesday night, but Banister sees benefits from that situation paying off in the future.
“Is he going to be better off facing a Khris Davis in that situation? Or is he going to be better off because we just took the situation away from him and said, ‘Nope, you’re not good enough to get the guy out,’” Banister said. “If we rescued them all the time from the ‘boogeyman,’ then they’d never have an opportunity to grow.”
Banister went on to say that he liked the approach Leclerc stated in his postgame interview. With the count at 2-2, Leclerc wanted Davis to chase a fastball out of the zone or take a ball and then come back with a changeup.
Unfortunately for Leclerc, the 2-2 fastball caught too much of the plate and Davis sent it into the right-field seats.
“The thought process was in a good place,” Banister said. “It really was. It only comes down to being able to execute the thought process. He’s going to be able to do that the further he gets down the road.”
3. Martin update. Right-handed reliever Chris Martin, on the disabled list with a left groin strain, felt good about a 20-pitch bullpen session he threw Thursday. Martin expects to join Triple A Round Rock on Sunday, and is hopeful to rejoin the Rangers sooner than later.
Martin, who has a 4.32 ERA over 28 appearances this season, has been on the DL since July 5.
This story was originally published July 26, 2018 at 11:28 PM.