Gallardo Fails in Rangers Debut

When Yovani Gallardo was brought on board in February via trade from Milwaukee, everyone in the Rangers organization talked about the obvious reasons they have wanted him for so long, and were finally able to land him to solidify a starting rotation fronted by Yu Darvish and Derek Holland.

Of course, since then, Darvish has been ruled out for the season, and on Monday night in Oakland, Gallardo failed in accomplishing what he was tapped to do in the Rangers' season opener. Gallardo was praised for his durability and ability to give a team innings, and all he gave the Rangers on Monday was four lousy innings.

Say what you want about Sonny Gray and the Rangers' offensive woes on Monday, but Gallardo put the Rangers behind the 8-ball early. Sure, this is all overreaction and knee-jerk Game 1 talk, but Gallardo was not good and he was not efficient or reliable.

The Fort Worth native bombed his Rangers debut to the tune of six hits and four earned runs in four innings. He did strike out five and walk one, but none of that mattered. He allowed a triple and a homer in the first inning, alone, and after allowing a leadoff single to start the fifth was pulled at 89 pitches — roughly 22 pitches per inning and not efficient.

Again, it's one game, but it wasn't the start the Rangers were hoping for, and it wasn't the one Gallardo was hoping for either. Instead, it continued an awful trend from 2014 of an overworked bullpen having to work too many innings and throw too many pitches, and we all know what happened once the calendar hit June. Let's hope that doesn't happen again.

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