Yovani Gallardo stopped the bleeding. But, thanks in part to a broken bat, he couldn’t stop the losing.
The Rangers’ pitcher halted a horrid stretch by their starters Tuesday night against the Diamondbacks, but wasn’t good enough to halt their four-game losing streak. Gallardo, who came into the game with a scoreless streak of 29.1 innings, kept Arizona scoreless into the 5th of a 0-0 game.
But with two outs, Jake Lamb swung and shattered his bat, the ball lofted into center field for a two-run single. Streak kaput. And the 2-0 deficit would stand in a 4-2 loss.
“I made a good cutter, and he just broke his bat,” Gallardo said after the game. “There’s not much that I can do about that.”
Gallardo, a heralded off-season acquisition, had been better than advertised. Not only does he eat innings, he provides quality starts. He’s been the Rangers’ best starter in the first half of the season.
His scoreless streak made it to 33.1 innings, third-longest in franchise history behind Kenny Rogers (39 in ’93) and Charlie Hough (36 in ’83).
“It was fun, that’s for sure,” Gallardo shrugged. “It’s just a matter of starting up another one.”
Sports Connection
Connecting you to your favorite North Texas sports teams as well as sports news around the globe.
The Rangers are suddenly in a complete funk. They’re not hitting. They’re certainly not pitching. They’re getting broken-bat bad breaks. And this weekend they might even get no-showed by their own Hall-of-Fame inductee, Juan Gonzalez.
The All-Star break can’t get here fast enough.
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.
