Cal Quantrill’s hot month continued as the Texas Rangers took down the Los Angeles Angels, 5-3.
Texas Rangers right-handed pitcher Cal Quantrill has been nearly unstoppable in the month of August.
The 31-year-old had a 0.95 ERA coming into his fifth scheduled start of the month, and somehow, that number has shrunk even further.
Quantrill's season ERA dropped from 3.13 to 2.90 as he threw six scoreless innings against the Los Angeles Angels.
The Rangers bullpen was far from perfect, but a pair of homers gave this team enough run support to secure a 5-3 victory.
After being shut out Saturday, the Rangers made sure they secured a series victory against an Angels team that has fallen to 52-79. As for the Rangers, they are now just one game below .500 (65-66).
Quantrill does it again
Quantrill gave up six hits in six innings, and that seems to be the magic number as he struck out six Angels batters without issuing a single walk.
In the month of August, Quantrill has now allowed just two earned runs in 25 innings of work. He's struck out 21 batters and has only walked four.
If there was ever a time to heat up, it's now. The Rangers are not only fighting for a postseason berth, but they know a division title is still within reach.
On paper, this is a Rangers team that had no business being shut out by the Angels. Thankfully, even with things in the bullpen getting dicey down the stretch, Quantrill's quality start was enough to lead them to victory as the eight-year veteran improved to 6-4 this season.
Peyton Gray and Tyler Alexander allowed three combined runs in just 1.2 innings of work, but Chase Silseth did his thing, picking up his 13th hold of the year, while Jacob Latz once again got the job done and recorded his 26th save.
Rangers jumped out to a 5-0 lead
The Rangers scored a trio of runs in the second inning and added two more in the fifth. Those five runs proved to be enough, even though the Angels tried to rally late with their three-run eighth inning.
Offensive highlights included Ezequiel Duran's second-inning solo home run, which marked his 14th of the season.
A few innings later, Elias Diaz went yard for just the sixth time this season. He may be ninth in the Rangers lineup, but he still possesses a bit of pop, and that power came through in the series finale at Globe Life Field.
Diaz led the way with two RBIs while Brandon Nimmo and Cody Freeman also had one each.
