ATLANTA – One of the keys to Kirby Yates' resurgence is his split-finger fastball, which he said has “better bite” than it did the past two years.
This can only lead to one question: Did he spend any time this spring talking to Nathan Eovaldi about the splitter?
“Not that much,” Yates said Sunday, before the Rangers' 6-4 shutout win over Atlanta, extending their season-opening shutout streak to 10 innings. “But enough is enough.”
In other words, it didn't take long for Eovaldi, who loves to talk about the art and science of pitching, to help Yates refine his pitch. They talked about this spring. Eovaldi mentioned how he tries to keep his wrist loose when pitching. That was all I needed. Yates said he noticed that he was unusually tightening his wrist on the pitch.
“It's hard to put spin on the ball when your wrists are tight,” he said. “Sometimes all he needs is one thing, one word, one sentence to get back on track.”
On Sunday, Yates, who spent the past two seasons in Atlanta, teamed with David Robertson to handle the final three innings. Yates retired all four batters he faced in just 15 pitches. What was unusual about Sunday was that he used the splitter more sparingly, only four times. He only whiffed once. But it was a big deal.
He entered the game with a tying base hit and faced Orlando Arcia with two outs in the eighth inning. The splitters he threw in one-on-one situations were full of swings and missed late dives. It gave him a huge advantage in the matchup. He came right back with a fastball that crossed the zone, leaving Arcia chasing a strike three. The inning is over.
Atlanta coach Brian Snitker couldn't help but praise him, too.
“I'm glad he's healthy,” Snitker said. “Kirby has been through a lot over the years, so I'm glad he's healthy and continuing his career because he's a great guy.”
With that said, here are some other very important final thoughts about what we learned about this Rangers team during this period.
Hottest April: Adris Garcia is one of them. The top of the wall is double layered. home run in the 8th inning. He has 22 RBIs in the Rangers' first 23 games, hitting .326/.368/.616/.984. Garcia's swing early this season has probably looked more controlled than it has in the past. He is also able to throw a higher fastball than before.
One of the things that stands out about Garcia's career with the Rangers is that he has improved over the years in areas that were glaring deficiencies. A fancy way of saying he keeps getting better and better. He was in very good shape last April with 8 home runs and 30 RBIs. He could be even better this year.
strange revenge: You've probably heard: Catchers are beating Rangers pitchers this year. Travis d'Arnaud hit four home runs in the first two games. Last week, Shea Langeliers hit three home runs. Before that, Houston's Victor Caratini hit a three-run homer, sparking a huge upset for the Astros. In Sunday's opening game, the Rangers allowed opposing catchers to hit twice as many home runs (eight) as any team in the league. And you want to hear something really weird: This is a trend. They led the league in home runs allowed to catchers last year. And also in 2022. Completely coincidental, but yeah, I think we need to get better at attacking the catcher…?
Andrew Knizner joins the chat here. A Rangers reserve player who was forced to start consecutive games after Jonah Heim was placed on the injured list got a little revenge. With two outs in the fourth inning, he sank Darius Vines' high changeup and gave the Rangers a lead-off three-run home run. Knizner entered the game as the player least likely to change anything after starting one of 16 games for the Rangers.
Biggest disappearance: Where is Jose Leclerc? If the bullpen had been completely rested and held a small lead through the final three innings, it would have looked like Leclerc was going to come out in the seventh. Instead, Bochy challenged David Robertson and Kirby Yates to each get three or more outs to end the game.
Leclerc has already been removed from the closer role, but I didn't expect him to be removed from a leverage situation. It was strange to see him ignored. Of course, with Monday off, the Rangers could afford to have their most reliable players hang out a little longer than usual.
Angel Hernandez's worst impression: At the moment, Wyatt Langford's favorite referee is everyone's punch line. Even when he's not around. While Hernandez was in Los Angeles for the Dodgers vs. Mets game, home plate umpire Brock Barrow certainly evoked bad thoughts in relief pitcher David Robertson.
Burrow appeared to miss a key strike in the eighth inning of the matchup between Robertson and Austin Riley. A miscall on the first cutter down made the count 1-1 and the score even. The next pitch was in almost the same spot, but Riley got ahead in the count instead. And at 2-1, Riley may have failed to check the swing of Dart's curveball, but the referee ruled that Riley held up. All of which irritated Robertson. Even more so after Riley bounced the ball into a gaping hole at second base when Marcus Semien broke and covered the bag. He scored one point and tied the game. Robertson was seen giving his thoughts to the umpires.
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