00:00Woo! The Texas Rangers win yet another series.
00:04That is three series in a row.
00:09And they are victorious in dominating fashion yesterday.
00:13The long ball's back. What happened?
00:15Man, so...
00:16Except for, was it Saturday night?
00:19Other than that, though, the long ball is...
00:21Corey Seager gets the one that essentially wins it for you on Friday night.
00:25Like, you were very thankful you had that.
00:27And then everybody hit a home run yesterday.
00:30It felt like... I think, what, there were four of them yesterday?
00:32I mean, and it started, obviously, it started with Foscue, but you're right.
00:39There was a surge yesterday. Young hit a home run. Langford hit a home run.
00:43And you started to score more in the first inning as well.
00:47There are so many things to like about this series.
00:52Now, obviously, if you would have swept, sure, that would have been great.
00:54But there are so many things to like, starting with...
00:57Thank you very much to Kennedy Landry for this statistic.
01:00In the last 12 games, the Rangers have now outscored opponents 20-5 in the first inning.
01:08And we talked about it.
01:09At one point, not too long before that, they were getting doubled up by opponents,
01:14like, cumulatively for the first inning.
01:17So, if you have a Rangers offense that can strike first, that's a huge deal for this team.
01:24I do have a question, though.
01:26Tell me.
01:27Of all the good things that happened, Jock Peterson goes 0-9.
01:34Over the weekend, 0-5 yesterday.
01:37And you still put up runs.
01:38And Wyatt Langford comes back, and Jock Peterson moves around, and then here we are.
01:42Move him back!
01:43Yeah, get him back up there!
01:45Wyatt can hit anywhere!
01:46But yeah, this...
01:47Look, dude, yeah, the ability to get runs on the board with your big boys,
01:52but also be able to get runs on the board with the rest of the roster, very important.
01:58Gotta love what you saw there.
01:59And some of the pitching outings were really good.
02:01I didn't love Jack Leiter's pitching outing.
02:04And there's starting to be a concerning trend on that front.
02:11So, let's go to Jack Leiter on Saturday.
02:16Jack Leiter, he has an...
02:18This is a crazy number right here.
02:20He has an 11.12 ERA in the fifth inning of games.
02:24Okay.
02:25The rest of all of the other innings, 3.56.
02:30So, you can chalk that up to an anomaly if you like, but here is the troubling thing.
02:34The second time through the order, prior to Saturday's game, opponents were hitting 3.04 against him.
02:41So, they see him the first go-around.
02:43Oh, yeah.
02:43Good job.
02:44Second time, they've got his number.
02:46And that's troubling for this season.
02:49That's troubling for, you know, the long-term hopes of Jack Leiter.
02:53Because if you're getting tagged the second time through the lineup, one of the, like, qualities of a really, really
03:01excellent starting pitcher is how good you are the third time through the lineup.
03:04Not even the second time through the lineup.
03:06So, that makes me a little bit nervous.
03:09Yeah, and I don't know.
03:10Like, that might be something we can ask Skip on Wednesday.
03:12And you know what, dude?
03:14Maybe even ask some really talented pitchers.
03:17Darren Oliver and Ken Hill on Thursday.
03:19Talk a little bit about that and getting through that third rotation.
03:22Specs and Arlington.
03:24Some of those adjustments that you might have to make as you go along through those things.
03:27Because I don't know what adjustment he needs to make.
03:30What's he doing in those first couple innings that's working?
03:33Does he stay there in the fifth?
03:36Or does he just try something different?
03:38And now that's where it is.
03:40Yeah, it is a little bit concerning.
03:43But I think Skip at the moment is like, I see a bright future for the pitcher.
03:47We'll keep investing in what he's growing into.
03:49Hopefully it's something good for this team.
03:52But man, we need more nights where we have these 10-run games, Kevin.
03:55I mean, or a shutout.
03:57Either way.
03:58Yeah, shutouts and 10-run games I'll take.
03:59I feel like you should win.
04:00At least for the shutout, I know I'll win.
04:02Mm-hmm.
04:0210 runs, I'm really, really confident.
04:06Was it Georgia and Mississippi State had like a 15-13 game?
04:09You can't be sure.
04:11But I have a tricky question for you.
04:13Okay.
04:13I have known you for a really long time.
04:16And I think you will not support this.
04:19Okay.
04:19You love Ezekiel Duran, right?
04:22We all do.
04:22I do like Ezekiel Duran a lot, yeah.
04:24Have you seen the shirts that were made up with his nickname, The Solution, on it?
04:30Really?
04:30Yeah.
04:31I thought he would say Zeke Who.
04:32Okay.
04:33I mean, sure, and kind of cropped off.
04:35I get what you're saying.
04:36So, he can play so many different positions, and then he was asked to take some reps at
04:41Catcher as well.
04:42So, he's being called The Solution.
04:44The nickname originated from him.
04:48Oh, no.
04:49And I know you have a long-standing dislike of people who come up with their own nicknames.
04:56I have names that you should call them based on that, but I don't know if I can say them
05:01on air.
05:02Part of it's Stain.
05:04Yeah.
05:04And it starts with Sheets.
05:06Oh, Gavin Sheets.
05:09If you come up with your own nickname.
05:11But, what do you think about this potential all-star?
05:14Probably should be an all-star in Ezekiel Duran, but he has come up with his own nickname.
05:19Now, he didn't make the shirts, because that feels like that would have gone too far.
05:23They made the shirts for him, and surprised him with the shirts.
05:27I mean, dude, if you're going to go four for five, with three RBIs, and you're doing
05:33that, until it becomes a problem, then I guess you've got to let it ride, dude.
05:39He can kind of do whatever he wants at the moment.
05:41Okay.
05:42When Wang Juju does it, you're like, come on, bro.
05:45Calling yourself Dodger?
05:47All right, man.
05:47If Shohei did it, you'd probably be like, well, I guess you have to call him whatever he wants
05:51to be called.
05:51All right, so if you're all-star-ish level.
05:55Yeah, if you're going to hit four for five every game, you can do whatever you want.
05:59All right.
06:00And, of course, no Corey Seager in the lineup yesterday, but that was for a very specific
06:06purpose after today, because day off for the Rangers.
06:09The Rangers are going to play 23 games in a 24-day stretch.
06:13That seems like a smart thing to do.
06:15Agree.
06:15He's coming back off of an injury.
06:17He showed that he could swing the bat still.
06:21Clearly, they were okay without him.
06:22Yeah.
06:23Just for this game, I mean.
06:25You give him a little time to kind of continue the ramp-up part, and also, as you just pointed
06:28out, get yourself into a very long stretch where you're going to be playing a lot, and
06:34you're going to need to rely on him a lot, too.
06:36I'm kind of keeping an eye on tracking also the Josh Smith games and where he's going,
06:42because I'd really like to see him get back healthy and back out on that field again.
06:46And he only played in one game of the doubleheader, which makes sense.
06:49Probably don't want to send somebody who is out there on their rehab assignment to go
06:53ahead and play both sides of the doubleheader, even though I'm sure he would do that.
06:57A couple of other things for you to keep an eye out for.
07:01Did you see that Wyatt Lankford autographed a baseball after the home run that hit that
07:10dude in the rib cage?
07:11And his exit velocity was 111 miles an hour.
07:16And so he autographed the baseball, and on it also wrote, sorry for hitting you.
07:22Go Rangers.
07:24Where's love next time?
07:25Yeah, I mean, it doesn't say that, but it does kind of feel like it's implied, and so
07:30I like that.
07:31I like that Skip was the one that told him he should probably do something for him.
07:34He's like, hey, you hit that dude on the outfield, maybe you should go.
07:38That's really smart on the manager's part.
07:40It was.
07:41Point out, hey, I know you're awesome, but also take care of the fans.
07:44There's no nets in the outfield.
07:46And while Danny Jansen did go on the injured list for right forearm strain, once again with
07:51the forearm, that got retroactively dated to June 3rd.
07:55We will keep an eye out on that, but we also need to keep an eye out on the continuing
08:01excellence of Josh Young.
08:03313 batting average for the season, OPS of 855.
08:08And then there's this.
08:10Since April 1st, Josh Young has 12 games with zero hits and 21 games with multiple hits.
08:18That's awesome.
08:19So he's far more likely to have a multi-hit game than a hit list game, 341 in that run,
08:26his batting average.
08:27I have questions, but right now I'm just going to ride the hot streak, and I'm hoping the
08:32best for him.
08:33Yeah, I mean, in the last three games, he has five hits, so in this series, hey, good
08:39job.
08:39I accept.
08:40Yeah, go do it again.
08:41I would hope so.
08:42Go do it again.
08:43Just get back out there and do that again, buddy.
08:44All right, and since starting tomorrow, you'll get the opportunity to go do it all over again.
08:49Is this the week the Rangers get above 500?
08:55Kevin, I believe it is.
08:57And I believe it will be Thursday when we're out at Specs.
09:00Oh, early game.
09:01Is when they turn that page.
09:03We'll be out there at Specs in Arlington.
09:06Yeah, we'll be closing that one down at 1 o'clock, and I think that's where they turn
09:09things over.
09:10So I hate to say this, Corey.
09:12I believe that is a statistical impossibility.
09:15Son of a gun!
09:16Because at 32 and 33, if they won the next two, they'd already be above 500.
09:20If they lose any one of them, they'll be half a game out.
09:23But if they split, they'd still be a game under 500, and that could only get them to 500.
09:27I'm so sorry to do that to you.
09:29I believe we're doing it on June 10th.
09:31That's going to be Wednesday, Kevin.
09:32Okay.
09:33All right.
09:33Now, that could happen.
09:35We're the KNC Masterpiece right here on 105.
09:39Three of the fans.
09:40What I meant was Thursday, we will be over 500.
09:42We will be at 500 and then over 500.
09:44That's what I meant.
09:45Yeah.
09:45Thank you very much for the clarification.
09:47There's a Wimby Castle moment there.
09:50Which one was I?
09:51Well, I threw the pass.
09:53Okay.
09:53So I definitely messed up on that one.
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