After first day as Rangers manager, Woodward dips into his silver linings playbook

In the aftermath of a 12-4 loss in his managerial career, Chris Woodward declared that there was good amid the scorched earth left behind by the Chicago Cubs’ bats and his repeated walks to the mound.

To recap, there was plenty of Opening Day bad Thursday: Eight walks by Rangers pitchers, including one with the bases loaded; only six Rangers hits, by only four players; and, oh, the 12 Cubs runs on 13 hits.

But Woodward wasn’t alone.

“We had a lot of good things that happened today,” said starter Mike Minor, who allowed six runs in 4 2/3 innings. “I wasn’t one of them.”

So, rather than dwell on the negative (there’s going to be plenty of time for that), here’s some of the good that Woodward might have liked.

Elvis Andrus

His first game of the season mirrored his spring, when he hit line drive after line drive and used all fields. Andrus singled over the shortstop, homered to right-center and singled again to left.

One game hasn’t proven that he is fully recovered from his broken right arm, but his spring and one game certainly seem to prove it. He might not be the hitter he was in 2017, when he launched 20 homers, or in 2016, when he batted .302, but it appears he won’t be the .256, no-pop hitter his was last season.

Nomar Mazara

Mazara has hit long home runs previous in his career, and the one he hit in the ninth inning wasn’t even his longest. It was 9 feet shorter than the Globe Life Park-record 491-foot blast he hit in 2016, and it also came off a left-hander.

So what’s the big deal? Well, Mazara showed a big uptick again lefties last season and the homer off Mike Montgomery, as well as a deep flyball off Jon Lester, might be on the verge of that again. If so, and if he can avoid another injury, he could be on his way to his finest offensive season.

Shawn Kelley

The veteran right-hander only recorded one out, but it was a big one and the kind of out a reliever needs to record. The bases were loaded and Javier Baez was up. All he had done was homer his previous two at-bats. Kelley struck him out.

Are the Rangers going to end up needing Kelley in September to get a critical out in an important game? It’s not looking like it. Could Kelley get these kinds of outs leading up to the trade deadline, making him attractive to other teams if the Rangers are in sell mode? Yes. He’s also the kind of veteran the Rangers might want to have around to mentor what could be a large fleet of young relievers late in the season.

Joey Gallo

He was hitless in four plate appearances, but looked good doing it. He played left field and didn’t seem to have any problems with his right groin. More good news.

Gallo saw 23 pitches, twice taking Lester to a full count. The results? A walk and a strikeout. He hit one ball into the shift and was out in the ninth on a liner to right field.

The Rangers saw for the first time in a game that matter Gallo’s new swing and the work he did in the off-season and spring training to learn the strike zone and not get himself out.

The Kyles

The Friday off day allowed Woodward to use the Rangers’ bullpen at will, and he fired away. Six relievers got their regular-season feet wet, and two of them made their MLB debuts – Kyle Bird and Kyle Dowdy.

They wish they could have fared better. Bird entered in the sixth with the bases loaded and two outs to face All-Star Anthony Rizzo. Four pitches later, Bird had walked in a run and was pulled in favor of Kelley, but he now knows what it’s like to pitch in the majors.

The first three Cubs in the seventh reached against Dowdy, but he needed only two more pitches to get out of it. He allowed a two-run homer in the eighth. It was the first time the Rangers had seen him pitch live, and they were more encouraged than discouraged.

This story was originally published March 29, 2019 at 2:28 PM.