The back of the rotation (Ross Detwiler, Wandy Rodriguez, Colby Lewis) came up big in Houston.
The back of the roster (Kyle Blanks, Carlos Peguero) did, too.
And now the back of the AL West looks different, as the Rangers have left the Mariners in the cellar, and are percentage points short of Oakland in third, and a game and a half behind the second-place Angels.
It was a strange series, as the Rangers scored big and caught the ball and claimed a win streak, not to mention a sweep. A couple catchers found themselves in unfamiliar situations: Frisco’s Pat Cantwell spent a night bullpen-catching for Texas and Hank Conger played two innings in left field for Houston last night (his first pro appearance anywhere other than catcher in 10 years of minor and major league ball), and while Conger’s run a couple hundred feet southwest of that stupid hill in center field had as much consequence as the lions, tigers, bears, leopards, jackals, bobcats, lynx, kangaroo, and snakes that might have gotten loose last night in Tuttle, Oklahoma (thankfully), Cantwell helped get Keone Kela and Neftali Feliz loose and ready for perfect innings on Monday night to preserve a 1-1 tie and then a 2-1 lead, and that’s pretty cool.