Thoughts on a 4-3 Rangers win

Jun 22, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Jakob Junis (16) leaves the game in the 8th inning against the Miami Marlins as manager Skip Schumaker (55) takes the ball at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images | Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

Rangers 4, Marlins 3

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• That was a productive way to start a lengthy road trip.
• After Kumar Rocker had the best outing of his career roughly a monthly ago in Colorado, throwing 7.2 shutout innings while striking out seven after coming in behind an opener, I confidently predicted that the Rangers would do that again his next time out.
• The Rangers did not, in fact, do that again his next time out. Rocker was generally fine his next four starts, then got knocked around last week against the Twins, allowing seven runs, including two in the first.
• With a 9.69 ERA in the first inning of games coming into his start against Miami, compared to a 2.89 ERA in every other inning, Skip Schumaker went back to the opener well, having Tyler Alexander pitch the first inning, with Rocker following him.
• It is safe to say that it worked out well.
• After an uneventful 1-2-3 first from Alexander, Kumar Rocker pitched innings two through six, and did so in impressive fashion.
• Rocker faced 19 batters. He threw first pitch strikes to 16 of the 19. He struck out 9 of the 19. He allowed no walks, and gave up just two hard hit balls.
• Rocker’s slider has long been his money pitch, and Rocker had it working in spades Monday against the Marlins. He threw 39 sliders, resulting in 23 swings and 3 called strikes. 17 of the 23 swings against the slider resulted in whiffs, a remarkable 74% swing-and-miss percentage on the pitch.
• That’s the most whiffs off a slider that a major league pitcher has generated this season — Dylan Cease and Tatsuya Imai are next, at 15.
• Rocker went most slider/cutter, using his sinker and fastball just 18 times combined, and not throwing the changeup at all. The two pitch mix was working for him.
• The Marlins did get two runs off of Rocker. One came on a single-advance on ground out-wild pitch-sac fly sequence. The other came when Otto Lopez doubled with one out in the sixth, then came around to score on an Xavier Edwards triple. Edwards almost had an inside-the-park homer when Alejandro Osuna had misadventures fielding the ball in left field, but was thrown out at home.
• Overall, it was an outstanding outing for Rocker. Okay, yes, two runs in five innings isn’t outstanding, but if he pitches like he did in this game every time out, the Rangers will be in great shape.
• The Rangers didn’t take the lead for good until after Rocker left the game, so he didn’t get the W, though W’s for pitchers are outdated and not that meaningful. Robby Ahlstrom, who had an 8 pitch, 1-2-3 seventh, did get the W. Its his second career win, with the first coming retroactively, also in relief of Rocker, in the game where Rocker was pulled with two outs in the fifth and the official scorer originally awarded the win to Latz. That was originally changed to a win for Ahlstrom and a save for Latz.
• Speaking of Latz, he once again was asked to get a save of more than three outs, coming in with a two run lead with two outs in the eighth in relief of Jakob Junis. Latz allowed a double, allowing a run to score and putting the tying and go-ahead runs at second and third.
• I was nervous. I’ll admit it. Its okay. You can admit you were nervous, too.
• But an intentional walk was followed by a groundout, Latz retired the side in the ninth, and there was joy in Miami.
• Just, you know, not for the Miami fans.
• It was another game where you feel like the Rangers should have scored more runs than they did. A bunch of baserunners, a homer and a couple of doubles…there should have been more than four runs to cross the plate, right?
• The homer was by Ezequiel Duran, who came into the game in a 3 for 30 skid. He needed that.
• Brandon Nimmo had three hits and a walk, and we like that.
• Alejandro Osuna was thrown out at home trying to score in the fourth on a two out Elias Diaz single, and I thought he should have been called safe due to the Marlins’ catcher blocking the plate, but what do I know.
• Texas is back to 2 games under .500, and a game back of WC3. Wild Card Fever…catch it!
• Tyler Alexander topped out at 91.7 mph on his sinker. Kumar Rocker reached 95.9 mph on his sinker, averaging 94.2 mph. Robby Ahlstrom’s fastball maxed out at 95.1 mph. Jakob Junis’s sinker touched 93.3 mph. Jacob Latz hit 96.6 mph with his fastball.
• Jake Burger had a 111.4 mph line out. Elias Diaz had a 109.3 mph groundout. Brandon Nimmo had a 107.5 mph single, a 105.8 mph double and a 101.6 mph single. Alejandro Osuna had a 106.6 mph double. Joc Pederson had a 104.7 mph single. Ezequiel Duran had a 103.4 mph homer and a 100.7 mph GIDP. Wyatt Langford had a 102.5 mph groundout.
• One down, nine to go.

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