Wandy Rodriguez has had himself quite the couple of starts for the Texas Rangers.
The veteran cast-off from Jeff Banister's former squad in Pittsburgh has found himself a home in Arlington, and he's been right up there with Nick Martinez as arguably the most solid option in a makeshift starting rotation that lost Yu Darvish and Derek Holland out of the starting blocks.
Rodriguez didn't get credit for the win on Sunday, as the Rangers were able to split a four-game set with Tampa Bay on the road, but he turned in his second consecutive really solid outing and made franchise history in the process. The 34 consecutive batters Rodriguez retired over two starts in Houston and Tampa Bay set a new team record and of course gave him better than a perfect game (27 consecutive) over two starts.
The 34 straight broke the team record of 31 held by Ken Hill, father of former Texas A&M quarterback Kenny Hill Jr., that was set back in 1996 — the first year the Rangers made the postseason in club history.
Rodriguez has now gone eight and six innings in his last two starts, respectively, and has allowed just one run in each of those two starts. Even when reinforcements come in the form of Derek Holland and Martin Perez, and possibly Matt Harrison, it's hard to envision Rodriguez taking a back seat to anyone with the way he's pitching at the moment.
