Left for dead on May 1, the Rangers are alive, well and inexplicably dominant on the road.
Last night in Oakland Nick Martinez pitched six shutout innings, Shin-Soo Choo got two more hits, Mitch Moreland hit a long homer and the Rangers finally beat A’s’ ace Sonny Gray.
Oh, and they did something they’ve turned into a habit the last six weeks – win away from Arlington.
The 2-1 improved the Rangers to a baseball-best 20-12 on the road. How good is that? No other team has more than 17 road victories.
“We're not playing different,” Martinez told reporters after his first win since May 23. “We’re coming to the ballpark going through our same routine as we go in at home. I think it's just worked out that way.”
It’s working out all right. Since bottoming-out at 7-15 to commence May, Texas has gone 24-12 to improve to 31-27 and only two games behind the AL West-leading Astros. During that span the Rangers are 15-5 on the road.
As surprised as some of us were by their atrocious start, we’re equally stunned by their rapid rebound. Their road success certainly isn’t a byproduct of a soft schedule as they’ve won series against Houston, Tampa Bay, the Yankees and Royals during this hot stretch.
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The easy answer is that they got healthier. The hard question now is can they keep up their success away from Globe Life Park?
A native Texan who was born in Duncanville and graduated from UT-Arlington, Richie Whitt has been a mainstay in the Metroplex media since 1986. He’s held prominent roles on all media platforms including newspaper (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), radio (105.3 The Fan) and TV (co-host on TXA 21 and numerous guest appearances, including NBC 5). He lives in McKinney with his wife, Sybil, and two very spoiled dogs.
