ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers rookie Kumar Rocker stored a scoreless begin intact by working by way of an eventful fifth inning that included downing three small bottles of pickle juice, the final of which resulted in a mound go to charged to a ball boy.
The 25-year-old right-hander apparently cramped up after putting out Chicago White Sox outfielder Michael A. Taylor for the primary out of the fifth Sunday, prompting a go to from the coach together with supervisor Bruce Bochy and pitching coach Mike Maddux.
Through the roughly 5 minutes the employees and the infielders had been on the mound, first baseman Jake Burger went to the dugout, grabbed two small bottles of pickle juice and jogged again to the mound.
Rocker shortly downed each bottles, then stretched his legs and threw a number of warmup pitches, with one other break in between for an additional chat with the coach.
Rocker stayed within the sport and gave up a single to Josh Rojas. With Mike Tauchman on the plate, a ball boy jogged to the mound with a 3rd bottle of pickle juice, which Rocker promptly drank and gave again to him.
Plate umpire Marvin Hudson, the crew chief, huddled with the opposite three umpires, and so they dominated the Rangers needs to be charged with a mound go to for the ball boy’s journey.
Rocker retired Tauchman on a grounder to Burger, and after one other journey to the mound from the coach, Rocker acquired out of the inning with a floor out from Chase Meidroth.
Getting by way of the fifth gave Rocker a shot at being the successful pitcher. The Rangers led 2-0 when Rocker was changed by Chris Martin to start out the sixth. Martin gave up a solo homer to Miguel Vargas.
Rocker began instead of right-hander Tyler Mahle on the identical day that Mahle was positioned on the injured checklist with proper shoulder fatigue.
Rocker allowed 4 singles and a stroll in 5 innings. He struck out six.