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Winning Combination: Rangers Improved Pitching, Defense On Display Throughout 6-0 Homestand

Pitching. Defense.

After years of digging the long ball, the Rangers are finding that pitching and defense are two good things that go great together. They’ve become one and the same. The only thing that can pry them apart is a conjunction.

The Rangers spent an entire homestand demonstrating their two new loves and the result was perfection. Sunday’s 3-0 win over Los Angeles, highlighted by sharp starting pitching and a third straight day of a web-gem worthy, game-saving defensive play, completed the homestand sweep. Winning all six games against AL West opponents extended the club’s winning streak to seven games and its lead over the now-hated Angels to 4.5 games. No wonder 37,146 people were on their feet at the end of Sunday’s game: It’s only the eighth season in the Rangers’ 38-year run in Texas in which they’ve had a lead that big.

“We are getting above average pitching and above average defense,” 2B Ian Kinsler said after the club extended its win streak to seven games with a 3-0 win over Los Angeles Sunday. “Everyone has a role, a purpose. Everybody is filling that role at a high level. They are connected. In order to pitch well, you have to play good defense. They both feed off one another.”

Yes, the homestand did include a couple of dramatic walkoff hits, but the biggest constants were pitching, particularly starting pitching, and great fielding.

Each win of the “showdown” with the second-place Angels, who came to Texas just as hot as the Rangers, featured a fantastic fielding play and each one seemed to top the previous day’s play.

Sunday, Josh Hamilton leaped into the wall in right center, putting his cleat about halfway up the padding, to rob Howie Kendrick of sure extra bases and an RBI in what was then a scoreless game.

“I felt like I was going 100 mph,” Hamilton said. “It felt like the wall moved when I hit the thing.”

Hamilton’s catch topped Saturday’s game-ender in which Ian Kinsler, went behind second base to grab a ball and threw off balance to Chris Davis, who did a cheerleader-caliber split to scoop the ball for the final out in a 5-3 win. And in the opener, as the bullpen was threatening a meltdown, Kinsler stayed with a ball that went off the pitcher’s leg and the mound and then gave him a weird hop for the final out.

The starting rotation ERA for the homestand after RHP Scott Feldman went six scoreless on Sunday: 2.55. The overall ERA: 2.89. And there was one error made in 56 innings of baseball.

“People have asked me what it feels like to beat the Angels at their game,” Kinsler said. “It’s not their game. It’s winning baseball. It’s the way any team needs to do things.”

For the season, the Rangers now rank in the top half of the AL in ERA at 4.54 (sixth) and the rotation ERA of 4.25 is fifth. They are third in fielding percentage (.991) and if that is too basic, they rank second in Baseball Prospectus’ more comprehensive defensive efficiency index.

And it’s not just pitching and defense that are tied together. The two components make it easier for the Rangers offense to shine. Tie them up together and you’ve got a nice little bundle.

Take Sunday, for example. After Hamilton’s catch to save a run in the seventh, the Rangers forced a run home in the bottom of the inning on a double, a single and a sacrifice fly. In the eighth, they squeezed two more across. No homers for a second straight day, but no problem. They are now 4-2 without a homer this season. Last year, they went 14-36 in no-homer games.

“We’ve known that we wanted to improve our defense and we’re taking a lot of pride in it,” 3B Michael Young said. “We’re talking about specific plays and situations. We’re really into it. And everything is feeding off everything else. We are so confident in our pitching and defense right now.”

It shows. In the standings.