Mariners rout Rangers 10-2. Was decision to open Globe Life Field roof a costly one?
Taylor Hearn came running in from the bullpen Monday with a career ERA of 108.00 in tow.
The Texas Rangers left-hander recorded only one out while allowing four runs last season in his MLB debut, and didn’t pitch anywhere again because of an elbow injury.
But the Rangers added him from the alternate roster before the opener of a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners, the team that hung the triple-digit ERA on him April 25, 2019.
It would have been hard for Hearn to not lower his ERA. He just needed to record an out without letting any runs score.
And he did.
But he also also gave up two runs while recording three outs, leaving his career ERA at 40.60. He wasn’t the problem, though, for the Rangers.
Here’s some Rangers Reaction from a 10-2 loss to the Mariners.
Roofing business
For those who didn’t hear, the roof at Globe Life Field was opened Monday night, more a matter of trivia than history but also a worthwhile, newsy nugget that turned into a story and accompanying video.
The temperature at first pitch was 95. It didn’t feel that way in the press box, elevation 5,280, thanks to a either a gentle breeze or a giant AC duct. But no one really cares about that.
How hot was it at field level? When the roof is closed, it’s 72 degrees.
“Maybe it was a little bit hotter, a tiny bit,” manager Chris Woodward said.
More importantly, did the ball carry more?
“I didn’t like the outcome, but I don’t think it affected the game,” Woodward said. “I thought the first time we played with the roof open [during summer camp] the wind was a factor. It wasn’t like that today.”
The Mariners hit three home runs, including a no-doubter in the seventh by Dylan Moore.
Kyle Lewis’ three-run homer in the fifth just got over the wall in left-center, and it looked like Nick Solak thought he would catch it. Kyle Seager’s grand slam in the sixth was only a couple rows deep, but it didn’t look as if it was wind-aided.
Woodward thought Willie Calhoun’s first-inning triple was a homer off the bat and that it didn’t carry. Moore appeared to be camping under it, but kept going back and back toward the right-field corner until it eluded his leap and took a funky hop of the wall.
“I don’t think the balls they hit went any further,” Woodward said. “I thought off the bat they were homers. I just think they hit those balls pretty good.”
Gibson falters
Kyle Gibson took a step backward from his start last week at Oakland, failing to get out of the fifth inning as issues with his command became costly over his final few innings.
He actually opened with two scoreless innings, including a 1-2-3 second, before he started to wobble despite feeling strong throughout the game.
“It was kind of a weird night,” Gibson said.
The Mariners scored one in the third, an inning that started with the .088-hitting Daniel Vogelbach beating the shift with a double to left field. Gibson nearly escaped, but Moore hit a 3-2 pitch for a two-out RBI single.
The Rangers countered that run in their half, but the Mariners kept pressure on Gibson. He worked a scoreless fourth, though he needed two spectacular diving stops by third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa to do so.
“Kiner was great,” Gibson said. “He was making some great plays out there, and he saved me a couple different times.”
Gibson retired the leadoff man in the fifth, but the Mariners went single, walk, homer (Lewis) and then rattled off two more singles before Woodward went to the bullpen that allowed only one earned run in 11 2/3 innings in a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels.
The bullpen worked four innings Sunday.
Jimmy Herget relieved Hearn, who had relieved Gibson, and allowed both of the runners he inherited from Hearn to score. Herget coughed up three of his own, all on Seager’s fifth career grand slam.
Contrary to popular belief, they have not all been against the Rangers.
The bottom line is the the Rangers needed their starter to go deeper into the game than only the 4 1/3 innings Gibson could muster.
“He didn’t have his command from the third inning on,” Woodward said. “I thought in that last inning, instead of missing with balls he was missing over the plate. That’s why he couldn’t get those last guys out.”
O no
Just when it looked like the Rangers’ offense might be coming around against Angels, the hitters missed out on too many chances against right-hander Justin Dunn.
The Rangers scored only one in the first, on the Calhoun triple, and their bid for more was thwarted when Joey Gallo was robbed of a line-drive single by shortstop J.P. Crawford.
The Rangers scored once again in the third for a 2-1 lead, but they missed a great chance to responde to the Mariners’ three-run fifth.
Shin-Soo Choo and Nick Solak opened with singles ahead of Calhoun, Gallo and Todd Frazier. Calhoun, though, was caught looking at a called third strike that appeared to be out of the strike zone, and the same thing happened to Gallo.
That left it to Frazier, who flied out harmlessly to right field.
“We didn’t execute when we had to in certain spots,” Woodward said. “I thought there was a lot early. We had our foot on the gas coming out of the gates. We had some opportunities the first three innings to really break the game open, but we didn’t get the big hit.”
Even just one run there changes the complexion of the game. Instead, Dunn posted a zero, and the Mariners kept on swinging for a five-run sixth.
And that was that.
This story was originally published August 11, 2020 at 12:03 AM.
