The pain from Wednesday night's Rangers loss to Oakland, in ugly fashion, was pretty real on Wednesday night, as a win could've moved the Rangers within one game of first place in the AL West behind the scuffling Houston Astros.
But on Thursday afternoon in Oakland, rookie pitcher Chi Chi Gonzalez can make everyone forget about that disaster of a game on Wednesday.
Gonzalez is taking the hill at O.Co Coliseum to face the A's, and he'll be looking to continue his franchise record 14 2/3 inning-stretch of scoreless baseball to start a career with the Rangers.
The 23-year-old righty is coming off a sterling outing over the weekend, when he pitched a complete-game shutout against the defending AL champion Royals. In those 14 2/3 innings, Gonzalez has allowed just five hits and seven walks — five coming in his debut against Boston.
If Gonzalez can somehow keep this streak alive on Thursday, it'd be a huge boost of confidence to a shaken club after Wednesday's game, and it'd make his next start against the Los Angeles Dodgers really fun to watch.
