Kumar Rocker left Rate Field with a win and the Texas Rangers standing alone in first place.
The Associated Press reported that Rocker (5-10) pitched 5.2 innings in Monday's 11-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox, allowing two runs on five hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. ESPN's box matches that line and lists a 4.41 ERA. NBC Sports wrote that it was his first win in five August starts and the second time this season he has struck out eight.
Texas already led 2-0 before he threw a pitch. Joc Pederson had walked, Ezequiel Duran had forced in a run, and Evan Carter had doubled in another. Rocker then had to keep it.
A two-run homer, then the escape
Brandon Nimmo went up at the right-field wall in the first and took a two-run homer away from Andrew Benintendi, the AP recap said, keeping the inning scoreless. CBS Sports' play-by-play has Steven Antonacci lining out, Munetaka Murakami striking out, Miguel Vargas singling, then Benintendi flying to deep right. In the second, Tristan Peters did not miss.
Peters homered with two outs, his 10th of the year and his third straight game with a homer, a 372-foot drive that scored Braden Montgomery and cut it to 3-2, per ESPN. Drew Romo followed with a single. Antonacci grounded out to first to end the inning.
Rocker loaded the bases in the third. CBS Sports' play-by-play has Murakami reaching on an infield single, Vargas walking, Benintendi forcing Vargas at second, and Braden Montgomery walking to fill the bags. Rocker then struck out Colson Montgomery and Chase Meidroth to leave them there.
He retired the side in order in the fourth and fifth, including a fly from Peters and a strikeout of Antonacci.
He issued a two-out walk to Meidroth in the sixth before Robby Ahlstrom took over. Ahlstrom got all four hitters he faced, the AP wrote, and Jordan Montgomery threw two innings without a baserunner. Chicago's last seven innings produced no runs.
Texas scored in seven of nine innings and finished with 14 hits. Jose Urquidy (2-2) was charged with five runs in three innings. Corey Seager went 3-for-4 with three RBI behind Rocker, FOX Sports' key-player line shows, and Wyatt Langford hit a two-run homer in the ninth.
