Someone has obviously put a hex on Rangers closers during the month of April. Call it The Jinx of Feliz. Happy’s Curse.
Since 2015, the Rangers have opened the year with the following closers:
2015: Neftali Feliz (5 ER in 9 IP in April, lost the job in May)
2016: Shawn Tolleson (6 ER in 9 IP in April, lost the job in May)
2017: Sam Dyson (14 ER in 7 1⁄3 IP in April, lost the job by mid-April, traded in June)
2018: Keone Kela (3 ER in 9 IP in April, pretty much what constitutes your lone success story here, apparently annoyed the team a lot and was traded in July)
2019: Jose Leclerc (10 ER in 10 2⁄3 IP so far, allowed 10 ER during the entire 2018 season)
Player of the Game: What a shame for Adrian Sampson who pitched 5 2⁄3 innings of shutout baseball and was in line to win his first big league game until Leclerc blew a 3-0 lead in the ninth and Jesse Chavez allowed three runs in extras.