Thoughts on a 5-3 Rangers loss

• So much for winning a road series.
• That was an unfortunate game. It was a winnable game, in fact.
• Dane Dunning allowed four runs in four innings of work, though he pitched better than that line suggests. He had his usual first inning issues, giving up a run two batters in on a walk-double combo, then hit the third batter of the game, but got out of the jam with a GIDP and a K.
• In the second Dunning went infield hit, strikeout, walk, pick off by Jonah Heim of the runner at second, strikeout. Things seemed to be fine.
• The third inning was when things went bad, though a lot of it was misfortune more than bad pitching. Dunning got up 0-2 on Mookie Betts, threw three pitches out of the zone to try to make him chase, and then got him to swing at a pitch up and away that probably would have been ball four had it been taken. Instead, Betts went the other way with it, and it snuck into the seats for a home run measured at 348 feet. 2-0 Dodgers.
• Gavin Lux then hit a sky high pop up behind second base, that Isiah Kiner-Falefa appeared to be under…until he gave way for Adolis Garcia, who wasn’t anywhere near close enough to be able to catch it, resulting in a single. Chris Taylor hit a softly stroked single. A ground out put runners at second and third with one out, but Dunning A.J. Pollock to hit a grounder to third that Lux initially broke home on, then got trapped for the second out. It seemed like Dunning would escape…until Zach McKinstry doubled home the runners, making it 4-0. Luke Raley then had a slow roller in the infield that rolled dead rather than foul before Austin Barnes flew out to end the inning.
• Dunning got Walker Buehler to ground out in the fourth before fanning Betts and Lux, at which point his day was done.

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https://www.lonestarball.com/2021/6/13/22532627/thoughts-on-a-5-3-rangers-loss