July 4, 2022 - Game 78
W - Bryan Baker (3-3)
L - Matt Moore (3-1)
S - None
HR: TEX: Garver (9), Semien (10); BAL: Mullins (7)
Time of Game: 3:33
Game Recap
The Rangers celebrated the Fourth of July in a quick turnaround from New York to Baltimore. The Rangers sent Dane Dunning out for another road start where Dane struggled the past few seasons. However, his last road outing was a positive one against the Royals in Kansas City. The offense faced Dean Kremer, who is coming off three straight shutout starts against the Mariners, White Sox, and Rays. It was a bad matchup considering the offense's struggles against a pitcher having success. The team had late success against Kremer, but it was only a small topic to a frustrating afternoon. "Today wasn't our best game," Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. "We made some silly mistakes and a couple of costly ones. We left a lot of things out there to take advantage of."
The Orioles scored first in the second inning. Adley Rutschman, originally called out, was ruled safe on a replay review to keep the second inning alive. Jonathan Araúz singles to right field to score Rutschman, but the Rangers relayed to tag Araúz to end the second inning. After Baltimore took a 1-0 lead, Cedric Mullins doubled to right field to score Jorge Mateo and put the Orioles up 2-0. Baltimore missed a chance in the fourth, and Texas took advantage. Adolis García hit a sacrifice fly (middle of the plate pitch) to score Josh Smith with the bases loaded. Next, Nathaniel Lowe with an opposite-field single to score Marcus Semien and tie the game at two. Mitch Garver capped off the inning with a three-run shot to left field and put the Rangers up 5-2.
The Orioles answered with a Cedric Mullins home run off Dane Dunning to cut the Rangers' lead to 5-3 in the fifth. Then in the sixth, a ground ball hit by Araúz went under the glove of Nathaniel Lowe to score both Rutschman and Rougned Odor to even the game at five. The Rangers had a chance in the seventh with a runner at second and none out but couldn't convert against the Baltimore bullpen. Baltimore, meantime, had an opportunity with two on and two outs, but Brett Martin struck out Cedric Mullins.
The Rangers took the lead on a Marcus Semien home run that hugged the left-field foul pole in the ninth. "He's been phenomial," Woodward said about Marcus Semien. "He does a little bit of everything. Today, he showed of a lot of different skills he has, but showed the power there in the ninth [and] showed the ability to go backside ground ball if they're shifting him." However, the Orioles answered right back with a Rutschman double to right scoring Ryan McKenna. The Rangers couldn't score in the tenth and the Orioles scored as Mateo was hit by a Matt Moore pitch with the bases loaded, ending a frustrating afternoon for Texas.
Monday was another instance of Dunning pitching better than the line indicated. Dane allowed five runs, three earned runs, seven hits, one walk, and five strikeouts. However, two runs scored on an error, and one scored on catcher's interference. "I felt like Dane had some good stuff today but made some silly mistakes in pitch calling and pitch execution," Woodward said.
Dennis Santana entered to complete the sixth inning. He retired both hitters and struck out one. Brock Burke threw 1.2 innings while allowing two hits and a walk. After he walked Jorge Mateo, Brett Martin came in and struck out Mullins. Joe Barlow entered for his fourteenth save chance, but couldn't convert after allowing a single and a double. Matt Moore threw two pitches in the tenth. He bobbled a bunt attempt and hit Jorge Mateo to end the game (the Rangers intentionally walked Ramon Urias).
Postgame Notes
The Rangers are now 25-27 on Independence Day. They've lost seven of their last eight on the Fourth of July.
Monday was the most runs the Rangers scored when Dane Dunning took the mound. Texas' offense scored one or no runs when Dunning was on the hill in eight of his first sixteen starts as a Ranger.
The Rangers' five-run fifth broke a string of 22.2 innings of scoreless thrown by Dean Kremer. The last earned run was in the fifth inning on June 12th against the Royals.
Dean Kremer entered Monday, allowing four earned runs in twenty-eight innings in 2022. Kremer allowed five runs in 4.2 innings on Monday.
Rangers are 4-15 in one-run games.
Cedric Mullins homered for the first time since June 7th against the Chicago Cubs.
Nathaniel Lowe's sixth-inning error is his second error in his last forty-three games.
Brett Martin has thrown 7.2 of scoreless baseball since June 1st and stranded six of six inherited runners.
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