ARLINGTON, Texas — Cal Quantrill threw six scoreless innings against the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday afternoon and did not issue a walk. The Texas Rangers won 5-3 at Globe Life Field, took the series, and closed the homestand 4-2 against the Washington Nationals and the Angels.
Texas is 65-66 and tied with the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West.
Quantrill gave up 6 hits and struck out 6 across 96 pitches, 68 of them strikes. His ERA dropped to 2.90. The scoreless streak reached 15 innings, and Sunday was his fifth consecutive start of five or more innings allowing one earned run or none.
Cal Quantrill Works Six Scoreless Innings
Quantrill threw a first-pitch strike to 15 of the 24 batters he faced. Mike Trout doubled off him for his 19th of the season, Moisés Ballesteros doubled for his ninth, and Gustavo Campero doubled for his first. Los Angeles stranded 9 runners and went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Four or five of the strikeouts came on the splitter, against right-handed hitters and left-handed hitters. Skip Schumaker said Quantrill kept a lot of the Angels’ contact off the barrel.
“We’ve said how difficult this has been from being sent down to Triple-A, to long man, to higher type of leverage, to start, back to bullpen, back to starting, and he keeps providing six innings of no runs,” Schumaker said. “A lot of strikes, 70%. The reason why he’s so successful, and a lot of the young guys can learn from this, is he pounds the zone. It’s 70% strikes. He uses his splitter. I think he had four or five strikeouts on the split to right and to left. Used the cutter when he needed it, but a lot of balls were off the barrel. And that is, when Cal is really good, it’s strike one. And then it’s within four or five pitches, it’s either an out or a hit. And that’s why he’s fun to play behind because he’s on the attack. He’s a veteran pitcher that knows how to win. And he’s really good.”
“I thought the first and third and the second inning for him to get out of that jam and then us coming back and Durán hitting the home run was a big momentum swing for us,” Schumaker continued. “And for Cal to get out of that inning with no runs given up was a big moment in the game.”
Ezequiel Durán And Elias Díaz Homer Off Yusei Kikuchi
Ezequiel Durán opened the second inning with a 403-foot home run to left-center, his 14th of the season. Cody Freeman followed with a triple to center that scored Logan O’Hoppe, and Elias Díaz brought Freeman home on a sacrifice fly to center for a 3-0 lead.
Díaz added a 421-foot home run to left-center in the fifth, his sixth. Corey Seager scored later that inning on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Nimmo, and Wyatt Langford moved to third on the play.
Texas finished with 8 hits and went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. The two sacrifice flies gave the Rangers multiple sacrifice flies in a game for just the third time this season, according to MLB.com.
Seager went 2-for-3. Langford went 2-for-3 with a double, his 16th, and a walk. O’Hoppe went 1-for-2 in his second game since Texas recalled him from Triple-A Round Rock on Sunday morning. Díaz drove in 2.
Entering Sunday, Texas had scored two or fewer runs in four straight games, in five of its last six, and in eight of its last 12.
Schumaker said the Rangers needed the five runs so the bullpen could go on the attack late, and that Texas did not walk a bunch of Angels hitters and instead made them swing.
“I wish I could tell you the messaging was different or the work was different,” Schumaker explained. “I think the guys just swung at strikes and didn’t chase a ton today. The middle of the order was really good. Seager and Wyatt were fantastic today, but the bottom of the order really helped out as well, and I think that’s the main difference. We just didn’t rely on the top. Díaz had a fantastic day today. Home run, sack fly. Freeman had a really nice day today. O’Hoppe with the big hit to keep us going. So I think it was just up and down the lineup, and weren’t just so reliant on the top half, even though the top did pretty dang good.”
Jacob Latz Closes For His 26th Save
Peyton Gray relieved Quantrill and gave up Zach Neto‘s 418-foot home run to left-center leading off the eighth, Neto’s 22nd of the season. Josh Lowe hit a sacrifice fly to left that scored Ballesteros, and Campero singled home Vaughn Grissom. Gray finished with 1.1 innings, 1 hit, 1 earned run, and 2 strikeouts.
Tyler Alexander allowed 3 hits and 2 earned runs while recording one out. Chase Silseth got the last out of the eighth for his 13th hold. Jacob Latz worked the ninth for his 26th save, allowing 1 hit and striking out 2, and he intentionally walked Trout. Latz has a 1.68 ERA.
Yusei Kikuchi took the loss and fell to 0-4. Over 5 innings he allowed 7 hits and 5 earned runs with 1 walk and 4 strikeouts, and he hit Durán with a pitch. Kikuchi has a 6.25 ERA.
Ezequiel Durán Starts In Center Field For The First Time
Durán made the first center field start of his career and moved to third base in the eighth, when Evan Carter came in to play center. Durán has now started at every position except pitcher and catcher this season, with 46 starts at shortstop, 30 at third base, 21 at second base, nine in left field, seven in right field, and one at first base. According to MLB.com, he is the first Ranger to play center field and third base in the same game since Drew Robinson on April 10, 2018.
Durán is batting .270 with 14 home runs and 65 RBIs.
Texas Rangers Starters Post A 1.02 ERA On The Homestand
Texas starters have allowed three or fewer runs in 13 consecutive games dating to Aug. 10, a season high for the club. Across the six-game homestand the rotation went 3-2 with a 1.02 ERA and held opponents to a .198/.222/.298/.520 line with 3 walks and 34 strikeouts, according to MLB.com. Per TruMedia, that 1.02 ERA is the lowest by a Rangers rotation in a single homestand of six or more games in club history.
Ryan Johnson one-hit the Rangers in a 3-0 loss on Saturday. Texas won Friday’s series opener 2-1 in 10 innings on a throwing error.
The Rangers open a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox on Monday at Rate Field. First pitch is at 6:40 p.m. CT on Rangers Sports Network. Kumar Rocker starts for Texas. Los Angeles fell to 52-79 and is fourth in the American League West.
