Player of the gameKumar RockerTEX4.1ip 3h 1er 2bb 2k
When Rangers manager Skip Schumaker walked out to the mound in the middle of the fifth inning on Friday night, only one thing was on his mind. “How am I going to get through the rest of this game?” he said. “You start counting outs.” Rangers second-year starting pitcher Kumar Rocker allowed one run in 4 1/3 innings, running into yet another speed bump in the fifth inning. But it was an already taxed bullpen that picked him up to help the Rangers to a 7-1 victory over the Blue Jays at Globe Life Field. The win, coupled with the Astros’ loss to the Braves, allowed the Rangers to pull back even with Houston in the American League West at 77-77, while sitting one game back of the White Sox (78-76) for the final AL Wild Card spot. The Astros hold the tiebreaker over the Rangers after taking the season series, 9-4. “After some tough losses lately, a different clubhouse could go in a different direction,” Schumaker said, referring to Thursday night’s late loss to the Red Sox. “With those guys in there, I was confident that they were going to turn the page quickly, come in with their heads high and ready to play the next day. They did exactly that. "We could have easily rolled over a tough loss into today. They didn't do that. They came ready to play right away from the first inning on.” Rocker wasn’t perfect in his 29th game of the season. But starting opposite American League Cy Young contender Dylan Cease, he didn’t need to be perfect. He needed to put the Rangers in a position to win. Rocker, much like his last start in Arizona, was cruising through the first part of his outing. On Friday, he allowed just two baserunners in the first four innings, both on singles through the left side of the infield. Then, exactly like his start against the Diamondbacks, he walked the first two batters he faced in the fifth. A double to nine-hole hitter Myles Straw got the Blue Jays on the board and ended Rocker’s day, leaving the bullpen to cover the rest of the game.
