This was supposed to be a day off, but the Rangers had to make a trip to Chicago to make up a rainout from a couple of weeks ago against the Cubs. It showed. They were lethargic, and quite frankly looked like a tired team.
Nick Tepesch might be coming back to earth a bit. As he was the starter, he did the “fly ahead early” ahead of the team to get some sleep. It didn’t help. He got knocked around. Threw four innings, allowed six hits, four walks, and the first six Cubs runs; although one was unearned. Given we now have Colby Lewis & Martin Perez about to hit rehab assignments, it looks like perhaps Tepesch will lose his spot if he pitches like this again. Even if he straightens up, he’s likely to lose his spot anyway, as we’d need two slots for the other guys. Still, I like the kid, and he’s done mostly pretty well this season.
But the rest of the staff wasn’t that great, either except for my man, Smokin’ Joe Ortiz. Ortiz was the only guy who didn’t allow any runs. Kirkman & Derek Lowe did. Pretty much can write off the game as a tired team, except for Tepesch.
We did score two runs in the ninth to break up the shutout, although one of them was a gift run. Came on an error.
But.. Scott Feldman. Ugh.