Lance Lynn, Texas Rangers’ bullpen survive for win, with help from Globe Life Field
The players were right, as everyone should have anticipated.
Once the first pitch was thrown Friday, the baseball game trumped all else.
The 60-game sprint in on. The Texas Rangers wanted to beat the Colorado Rockies on Opening Day at Globe Life Field, and the Rockies wanted to beat the Rangers.
The game mattered, and that’s all that mattered.
Yes, it was weird without fans and with fake crowd noise and between-innings entertainment for, well, 2,700 cardboard cutouts and some club employees.
But the players played. They didn’t give in.
That was ... normal.
Despite all this quirkiness, baseball is back.
And the pitching-first Rangers are undefeated.
Here’s some Rangers Reaction from a 1-0 victory.
Bullpen choices
The Rangers’ bullpen is such that the eighth inning belonged to rookie right-hander Jonathan Hernandez, who entered the season with 16 2/3 innings pitched in his career.
None was bigger than his first of the 2020 season.
The Rangers were leading 1-0 in a game devoid of much offense, and Hernandez had to face the top of the Rockies’ order — David Dahl, Trevor Story, Charlie Blackmon, Nolan Arenado and Daniel Murphy.
Those guys know how to hit a little.
“I would hoping I could give him a little bit softer landing than a one-run game and the top of the Rockies lineup,” manager Chris Woodward said. “It’s one of the best top-four hitters in baseball.”
Hernandez survived a leadoff single, a deep drive by Story that put a scare into the Rangers’ dugout, and an extended at-bat with Murphy after pitching around Arenado. Blackmon had been disposed of quickly.
The outing stands as a test passed by Hernandez, who was the hot relief hand coming out of summer camp. It also speaks to the spot the Rangers are in because of injuries to Rafael Montero, who handled the eighth inning late last season, and Joely Rodriguez, who was signed in the off-season.
The next-best option was Edinson Volquez, who started to warm in the eighth when it looked as if Hernandez might be in for a quick hook. Jesse Chavez pitched the seventh, and looked good in his perfect inning.
Jose Leclerc made it hard on himself, throwing six straight balls to start the ninth, but his slambio bailed him out. The Rangers, too.
“It wasn’t the way he would like it,” manager Chris Woodward said. “He got through it, though. That was the biggest thing.”
The bullpen, though, could be an adventure the first few weeks of the season.
Lynn survives
Lance Lynn wasn’t at his best, which is good considering that he gave the Rangers six scoreless innings on only two hits. Lynn walked four, but tied the club’s Opening Day record with nine strikeouts.
He did much of that while not having much clue what was causing his issues.
“The first three innings of the game was probably the most uncomfortable I’ve ever felt on the mound,” Lynn said.
Yikes. Considering that, his outing was really good.
“When it comes down to it, I didn’t give up any runs, so that’s what it’s all about,” he said. “I was able to make pitches when I needed to.”
Lynn, of course, despised the four walks. They helped push his pitch count north of 80 after four innings, but he finished six at 108.
So, no big deal for him.
The Rangers got what they wanted, at least six innings from a starter who gave them a chance to win. They thought the rotation’s ability to go deep into games would play to their advantage early in the season, and that enabled them to go to the key pieces in the bullpen.
It’s always nice to start with a win, too.
“I’ve never been 1-0. I don’t know,” said Woodward, who lost his first game as a manager last season. “I’ll tell you tomorrow. It feels pretty good right now. We’ve never lost a game in our new ballpark. It’s nice to be 1-0. It feels good.”
Lynn will pitch again Wednesday as the Rangers take advantage of an off day Monday to pitch him on normal rest. That means fellow right-hander Jordan Lyles will be skipped and won’t pitch until the Rangers’ eighth game, Aug. 2 at San Francisco.
Pitcher’s park?
3. Leclerc was credited with the save, but whoever signed off on the outfield dimensions at Globe Life Field might deserve one, too.
It might be a pitcher’s park after all.
The ball hit in the eighth by Story, who is from Irving, is a home run the previous 26 seasons in Arlington at Globe Life Park. Just watching him watch the flight of the ball, he appeared to think it was gone, too.
“Yeah, maybe,” Woodward said. “The one thing is left field at the old ballpark, it was pretty hard to go. It’s hard to say on that ball. If that ball had been hit to right-center, absolutely. But it’s a big spot out there. It, obviously, saved us two runs.”
The Rangers saw the Rockies hit five home runs in exhibition games Tuesday and Wednesday, but not one was to the big part of the field — bullpen to bullpen. The ball goes out down the lines at any park, and Globe Life Field isn’t an exception.
Maybe Story just missed the pitch from Hernandez, a 98-mph sinker that he didn’t get far enough inside. But maybe it was inside just enough.
Or maybe the folks who designed the field made it just deep enough.
