Series Thread: The Rangers Host Seattle For Three Games September 22-24

[Duane1952]

The Rangers just need to take care of business. Win the division and the second seed.

 

[saddles]

From Shawn McFarland:

And in regards to Leclerc’s own 2023 season: To be frank, it seemed a bit improbable even two months ago that Rangers manager Bruce Bochy would be entrusting Leclerc with the ninth inning in the midst of a tightly contested playoff race.

He was demoted to a low-leverage role in May after two blown saves and erratic command in April. He inched his way back toward reliability from then on. Leclerc posted a 3.42 ERA in June, a 2.53 ERA in July and a 2.00 ERA in August, and successfully closed a win against the New York Mets on Aug. 28 — his first save opportunity since April 24.

Then came Sunday. Leclerc struck out the first two batters he faced — Teoscar Hernandez on his slider, Jared Kelenic on his fastball — before a two-out Eugenio Suarez double.

No matter. Leclerc — after his first two changeups missed wide left for balls — got Dominic Canzone to hit into an inning-ending groundout off of the cutter. First baseman Nathaniel Lowe made a diving stop to corral a 102.7-mph stinger and flipped to Leclerc covering the base for the game’s final out.

It was the 29-year-old’s second straight clutch outing in as many days; He pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings in Saturday’s 2-0 win and bridged the gap between starter Jordan Montgomery and closer Aroldis Chapman.

Not a full 24 hours later, Leclerc was the closer — the same position he began the season in before Bochy replaced him with Will Smith. Bochy said before Sunday’s game that Leclerc, who began the season with 36 career saves, might not have been fully recovered from a spring training neck injury by opening day; Leclerc said that he may need to readjust his offseason programming so that his body is in peak shape come March.

A story for next year, maybe. There’s still a bit of work to be done in 2023.

“He’s been pitching with confidence,” Bochy said. “He threw 18 pitches last night and we needed him to close [Sunday’s] game down, and here he was throwing 97, 98. Good stuff, good poise.”

Good? Try best stuff. Leclerc’s fastball on Sunday averaged 98.1 mph (3.1 mph faster than his season average) and peaked at 98.7 mph. His slider (85.2 mph) and changeup (90.5 mph) were each better than 2.3 mph faster than his usual velocity, too.

“My fastball was there, my command was there,” said Leclerc, who has a 1.29 ERA in his last seven appearances. “That was the best, for me, the whole year.”

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

Leclerc signed with rhe Rangers in 2010.

 

[Duane1952]

Things couldn’t have gone better with the Rangers sweeping the Mariners and the Royals sweeping the Astros.