Kolby Allard took a no-hitter in the sixth, and that put the Texas Rangers in a bind
A familiar face came to the mound in the eighth inning Wednesday night, but he was wearing a grey and green jersey.
The Oakland A’s are Jake Diekman’s third team since July 31, 2018, when the Rangers traded him at the deadline. He went to the Arizona Diamondbacks and signed the next off-season with Kansas City Royals, who traded him to the A’s at last year’s deadline.
Diekman is from Nebraska and loves Nebraska Cornhuskers football. Anyone who follows him on Twitter knows that he’s none too pleased with the Big Ten’s decision to nix football this fall.
But it was always good talking to Diekman about the good ol’ days of Big Eight and Big 12 football.
My parents went to the University of Colorado and we regularly attended Buffs games in the 1980s. They finally could hang with Nebraska in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and then ran right over them in 2001 en route to the Big 12 championship.
Of course, Nebraska somehow ended up in the national title game that season while CU went to the Fiesta Bowl and was trounced by Oregon. Miami whipped Nebraska for the title.
Diekman and the A’s came out on top Wednesday at Globe Life Field.
Here’s some Rangers Reaction from a 3-1 loss.
An inning too far
Kolby Allard retired the first eight batters he faced before a walk, then retired the next four before an error, and then four more after that.
Taking a no-hitter into the sixth was a remarkable turnaround for a young pitcher who didn’t get out of the first inning of his previous start and lasted only three innings in the one before that.
But Allard taking a no-hitter into the sixth put the Rangers in a bind.
“I think if he would have given up a hit before the sixth I would have gotten him a little bit sooner probably,” manager Chris Woodward said.
The left-hander hadn’t pitched beyond five innings all season, and he hadn’t thrown more than 94 pitches. He had a no-hitter, though, and was cruising until a sudden veer off track.
He quickly recorded the first out of the sixth but went walk, walk, single, walk to finish his night. A wild pitch by reliever Luis Garcia allowed a second run to score inning in the inning, and Allard was on the hook for a loss in a game he deserved the chance to win.
“I need to go out there and do a better job in the sixth,” Allard said. “I think I lost that attack mentality.”
That’s a solid answer from a rookie, but he was being unnecessarily hard on himself. He had done enough, so much that he put himself and the Rangers in a tough spot.
“I don’t think I was going to let him throw 130 to finish it off,” Woodward said. “But at the same time, when the kid hasn’t given up a hit yet you’ve kind of got to honor the fact that he can get out of that.
“He pitched his butt off. He absolutely pitched his butt off tonight and probably deserved better, but it was a really good outing for him.”
A rare ineffective outing by Jonathan Hernandez ordinarily would have nixed the Rangers’ chances for a late rally. The A’s opened the eighth single, single, single, hit batter against Hernandez, who was quickly lifted in favor of Nick Goody.
But Goody, who came of the injured list earlier in the day, retired three straight to give the offense a fighting chance. Escaping the jam should have given them a jolt.
It didn’t. The Rangers finished with three hits, and they didn’t have one after a Nick Solak double in the fourth.
The Rangers got a man on with one out in the eighth against Diekman, but Danny Santana struck out and Jose Trevino flied to center field.
Liam Hendriks plowed through Joey Gallo, Todd Frazier and Solak to hand the Rangers’ their 10th loss in the past 11 games.
About the offense
Trevino became the first Rangers catcher to bat third since Jonathan Lucroy did in August 2016 after the Rangers acquired him at the trade deadline. There are only six other instances of a catcher hitting third since 2001, when Ivan Rodriguez did so regularly.
Trevino is batting third because he has been one of the Rangers’ hottest hitters the past few games, if not the hottest. He was put in front of Gallo to maybe, just maybe, give the A’s a pick-their-poison proposition.
Of course, they weren’t afraid of Trevino, a rookie catcher who was an average offensive player in the minor leagues.
That Trevino is suddenly batting third is awfully telling about the state of the Rangers’ offense.
Give Woodward credit for trying to get his best hitters at the top of the lineup, but he’s trying to make lemonade out of lemons. The Rangers don’t have any thunder in the lineup other than Gallo, and he’s hitting only .186.
Frazier has gone cold, Solak is chilling off, and so is Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Santana and Rougned Odor, who missed another game with an eye infection, are batting .145 and .150.
And that’s why Trevino, who less than weeks ago was at the alternate camp site, is hitting third.
That’s awfully telling about the offense.
One more year
Count Rangers Reaction among those who want the Rangers to re-sign Shin-Soo Choo for the 2021 season. It sure seems like he isn’t quite ready to retire.
The argument against re-signing him is he’s old, that he’s a designated hitter only (despite how often he has played outfield the past three season) and that he will cost too much money. However, he said in spring training he would be willing to play on the cheap.
His definition of cheap and Jon Daniels’ definition of cheap are likely entirely different. Choo was supposed to make $21 million this season before the season was shortened to 60 games.
Paying him $8 million next season would seem to be reasonable, especially considering all the Rangers are lacking this season at the plate.
They need someone who can get on base, which Choo has pretty much always done. The need several players who can hit a home run every once in a while, which Choo also has done throughout his career.
He’s not going to hit 30 homers, but 20 will do just fine from the top of the batting order.
And this season he’s taken to running more on the bases. His steal of third base in the third inning turned into a run as A’s catcher Sean Murphy tried to get Danny Santana at second but threw the ball into center field. Choo scored easily for a 1-0 lead.
Those skills won’t suddenly disappear over the off-season.
This one should be easy. Choo needs a full, uninterrupted season to cap off his career, and the Rangers really need him.
