The Texas Rangers actually have some real, legitimate momentum at the moment, and a big reason that continued on Tuesday night in Oakland was the start turned in by righty Nick Tepesch.
Tepesch notched a quality start on Tuesday night against Oakland to earn his first win against the A's in six career starts while giving the Rangers their fourth straight win. The young righty, who is hoping to factor into the Rangers' 2015 rotation plans, threw 99 pitches on the night and got out of a big jam in the fourth inning while allowing just two runs in a frame that could've been much worse.
Tepesch's problem recently has been getting through lineups a third time, and it looked like another round of that problem on Tuesday before he pitched his way out of trouble and limited damage.
He struck out just one batter while walking two but he did do a good job of pitching to contact and broke a string of a couple of rough outings when he either failed to get deep into ballgames or did work six or seven innings but give up a lot of hits and too many runs.
The Rangers have wanted Tepesch to emerge as a starting rotation candidate since last season when he got off to a hot start as a rookie before falling off the wagon. He was horrible in spring training before setting Triple-A on fire before a call-up in May.
He's still a work in progress, but in as much of a key situation as a last-place team can be in on Tuesday — facing a rival, trying to damage its playoff hopes — Tepesch performed well. That's a good sign.
