The Rangers overcame a slow start by one ace and an injury to another to take the series in Philadelphia.
The Rangers overcame a slow start by one ace and an injury to another to take the series in Philadelphia.Texas Rangers' Brandon Nimmo, right, celebrates his two run homer with Wyatt Langford in the third inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Philadelphia.
We won’t go there just yet, but the Rangers have to feel decent about themselves after a northeast weekend in whichThe Rangers traded second baseman Marcus Semien to the New York Mets in exchange for right fielder Brandon Nimmo last fall with the hope that it could lead to an improvement in the quality of at-bats at the top of the lineup. The early returns suggest that Nimmo, who’s slashed .333/.429/.583 in three games, can do that. They also believed that the 33-year-old veteran could provide a level of leadership or a culture boost that the clubhouse at times lacked last season.Take Sunday, for example, when he chose to spotlight third baseman Josh Jung after the offense plated eight runs against a host of pitchers that included tough left-hander Jesús Luzardo. Jung went 0 for 4, struck out three times and remained hitless to start the season. Nimmo saw valuable at-bats regardless.“One thing that didn’t really get highlighted today, but I really took notice of, was JJ,” Nimmo said. “I think he got down 0-2 twice to Luzardo and didn’t let him put him away until he got back to 3-2. Yes, he did strike out, but those are huge to be able to battle and not just give in right away. So, for me, I see a lot of fight out of the guys with the offense.”There’s a lot that he’ll need to get used to. The same can be said for his team. The Rangers chose to carry the Rule 5 draftee on their opening day roster because of a curveball-fastball combination that played well in camp. They’ll now need to figure out how to best use a player who’d logged all of 88 2/3 professional innings in the minor leagues prior to this season. Texas Rangers relief pitcher Carter Baumler in action during the eighth inning of an opening-day baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Philadelphia. Baumler debuted Thursday, loaded the bases on a walk, double and hit by pitch, then worked himself out of the jam to log a scoreless inning. On Sunday, in his second appearance, he threw 43 pitches in 1 2/3 innings when the Rangers needed length out of a thin bullpen. The Rangers trailed by five runs in the first game he entered; they led by six in the second. “You try to ease him in a little bit, and if he keeps producing like he does, then you put him in more high-leverage situations,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “He’s got the stuff to get both righties and lefties out. He’s got real power stuff. Now, he knows he can do it, so you can kind of build off of that. But until you do it, you don’t know if you can do it, right?”. To put that speed into perspective, in the pitch tracking era , the Rangers have never had a left-handed pitcher whose fastball ran that fast for a full season. Derek Holland — whose fastball averaged 94.8 mph in 2011 and 94.2 mph in 2013 — is the only full-time starter who eclipsed the 94 mph fastball threshold. Gore’s fastball averaged 95.3 mph last season and 96 mph the season prior with the Washington Nationals. The next frontier for meaningless records? Gore could potentially throw the fastest pitch that any Rangers lefty starter has thrown in the era of accessible velocity data. Matt Harrison, who hit 98.7 mph in a May 17, 2011, game vs. the Chicago White Sox, is the current leader. Gore has cleared that mark four times in his career, but last season, he maxed out at an even 98 mph. Now, to paraphrase a spring comment made by Schumaker, velocity means little if it’s not commanded well. Gore threw just 57% of his fastballs for strikes in his Rangers debut. The manager would be thrilled to see that rise, even if it means the velocity dips.Left-hander Robert Garcia got the first opportunity with a three-run lead, retired two batters quickly, then allow a single and a walk before he was lifted. Right-hander Chris Martin came in next, allowed an Adolis García double, a Brandon Marsh single, and walked off the mound with a blown save in hand and a game tied.On one hand: It looked a lot like last season when the Rangers had the fourth-worst save percentage in baseball. On the other: It might look different sooner rather than later. The names involved, at least, we mean. The Rangers have altered their ninth-inning plans early in each of the last three seasons in an effort to shake something loose. In 2023, right-hander José Leclerc started as closer, but lefties Will Smith and Aroldis Chapman were worked in. Leclerc started the 2024 season as closer, too, but was supplanted by right-hander Kirby Yates by the middle of the season’s first month. Remember right-hander Luke Jackson? He started as last season’s closer; Garcia took over the effective full-time roles by May, and by August, he’d been removed from the role.The Rangers may be inclined to shake things up at the back of their bullpen if poor results persist. The question is, of course, who can they turn to with a relief staff thin on arms that profile as true high-leverage options?The Rangers averaged 4.11 pitches per plate appearance in three games against the Phillies. That would’ve led baseball last year and is more than a 20-point improvement over how many the Rangers averaged in their down offensive season. That — like almost anything handpicked out of a three-game window — is an especially small sample size. It does, however, represent what the Rangers hope their offense can do this season with team-oriented at-bats and difficult outs.MacKenzie Gore’s debut shows why ‘the sky is the limit’ for Texas Rangers lefty Gore showed why the Rangers spent five prospects to acquire him with five innings of no-hit ball against the Phillies.Shawn covers the Texas Rangers and college sports for The News. He joined The Dallas Morning News after covering UConn basketball, football and high school sports for The Hartford Courant. A Boston area native, Shawn graduated from Springfield College in 2018 and previously worked for The Boston Globe and Baseball America.
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