A Rocky Outing for Rocker
On a humid evening in Arlington, Texas, Kumar Rocker took the mound for the Rangers against the Houston Astros and quickly found himself in trouble. He surrendered seven runs on eight hits, three of them leaving the park as home runs, a performance that left the scoreboard tilted in Houston's favor.
Manager Skip Schumaker, watching from the dugout, offered a blunt diagnosis after the game. He said the root of Rocker's struggles lay not in mental fatigue or physical wear but in mechanical flaws that kept his pitches floating toward the middle of the plate, making them easy prey for the Astros' lineup.
What made the outing especially notable was the volume of work Rocker logged. The right-hander had thrown more innings this season than any previous professional campaign, yet Schumaker dismissed any notion that exhaustion was to blame, insisting the issue was purely a matter of delivery.
Looking ahead to the second half of the schedule, Rocker expressed a clear intention to refine his mechanics and translate that improvement into wins for Texas. The Rangers hope his rebound will bolster a rotation that has been inconsistent early in the season.