Gallardo Got No Help, But Was Great Thursday

Yovani Gallardo hasn't been an ace this year, but in all honesty, he was never acquired to be that for the Texas Rangers.

He was acquired to be a really good No. 3 starter behind Yu Darvish and Derek Holland, but injuries had other plans and thrust the veteran Fort Worth native to the top of the Rangers' rotation. While he isn't going to wow you with his stuff, he's been really solid — just a like a really great No. 3 starter would be.

On Thursday, he had one of his gutsier outings of the year despite an awful defensive performance behind him. The Rangers committed four errors and still managed to hold Chicago to one run — an unearned run allowed by Gallardo — in a 2-1 win in 11 innings.

Gallardo allowed three hits, fanned four and walked two while lasting six innings. He was inefficient — that's been his black eye this year — throwing 106 pitches, including a 28-pitch first inning. But he gutted things out down the stretch and actually got Gordon Beckham swinging for his final out of the game with runners on base in a 1-1 tie.

In his 12 starts this year, Gallardo has allowed four earned runs twice, and less than four in the other 10. Just imagine if this rotation had Darvish and Holland ahead of him. That'd really be something.

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