April 24, 2022 - Game 15
W - Cole Irvin (2-1)
L - Spencer Howard (0-1)
S - Dany Jimenez (3)
HR: OAK: Piscotty (1)
Time of Game: 2:56
Game Recap
The Rangers used Garrett Richards as an opener Sunday against Oakland. Richards allowed the first two Oakland A's to reach Sunday by singles. However, he got a much-needed groundball double play that ended the first inning with no damage. Richards came back out in the second and walked one but held Oakland scoreless to pave the way for Spencer Howard. Spencer pitched two innings coming off the injured list and looked pretty good Sunday. He struck out four but allowed two hits in the fourth inning. After a Sean Murphy infield hit, Stephen Piscotty launched a home run to left field to put Oakland on the board 2-0. It doubled the Oakland run total from the previous two days and gave the A's their first lead of the series, and they never lost the lead. "It was good to get [Spencer out there]," Chris Woodward said after the game. "I thought all of our pitchers did a good job. Abreu had a tough one but he's been so good for us, Brett Martin picked him up there with the bases loaded. Santana and Allard picked us up for two there. It was nice to not have to use our high leverage guys in the seventh and eighth.
Albert Abreu came in during the fifth inning and struggled with his command. He walked three with a flyout mixed in but couldn't finish the inning. Chris Woodward lifted Abreu for Brett Martin, who mowed down the Athletics and cleaned up. Martin struck out two A's with the bases loaded as Oakland couldn't push across a run. Dennis Santana had his first outing since returning from the COVID injured list and pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning with some thanks to Charlie Culberson on a tumbling foul out catch at the Oakland bullpen area. Finally, the Rangers called upon Kolby Allard with his first outing since last Friday, April 15th. Allard threw two innings, walked two, and allowed a hit but didn't give up a run.
Meantime, the Rangers' offense got shut down by Cole Irvin on Sunday. Marcus Semien singled to start the game, but the Rangers were held out of the hit column until the eighth inning, when Semien, again, got on base with a base hit. After that, the Rangers' offense didn't get any traction against the Oakland starter. Irvin's afternoon finished after five scoreless innings and allowing only one hit and eighty-seven pitches. The Rangers got three baserunners off the Oakland bullpen, the Semien double, a Nathaniel Lowe single, and a Jonah Heim single. All three hits came in the final two innings. Willie Calhoun had a chance with runners at the corners and two outs down two, but a hotshot liner first ended the game. "Irvin is a good pitcher, he's going to throw strikes and he's going to mix it up," Woodward said. "We left him off the hook a little bit in some counts. We had good hitters counts and we didn't' put good swings on them or didn't swing. We have to make him pay."
The Rangers begin a four-game series against the Houston Astros starting tomorrow followed by the World Series champion Atlanta Braves. "We got to get on that plane and go face Houston tomorrow," Woodward said.
Postgame Notes
Spencer Howard's four strikeouts on Sunday puts him at nine strikeouts on the season. He moves up to fifth overall among Rangers' pitchers in strikeouts, with only five innings of work.
Howard's homer to Stephen Piscotty keeps a streak of four straight outings where Spencer allowed a home run, going back to 2021.
The Rangers benefited from five straight games where their opposition committed at least one error.
Kolby Allard came into pitch in the seventh. His last outing was April 15th against the Angels (nine days between outings). Allard has eleven days in between outings in 2021, twice once in April and the other in September. In September, Kolby got scratched from the start due to illness.
The Rangers had seven baserunners on Sunday. Marcus Semien reached three of those seven baserunners and three of the four hits.
If you count Spencer Howard as a starter and Garrett Richards as a reliever (regardless of when they pitch), the Rangers bullpen has allowed one run in their last nineteen innings.
Mitch Garver is 1 for his last 30 at-bats.
The Rangers won 2-0 Saturday while falling 2-0 Sunday. It's the first time since August 30 and 31 that the Rangers played two games in a row with the same score. The Rangers and Dodgers played on June 11 and 12 where the score was 12-1 with each team winning by that score.
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