4 Studs (& 1 Dud) From the Rangers' ALDS Sweep Over the Orioles

Dud: The Bullpen

You really can't pick a dud out of the Rangers' lineup from this series, but the bullpen had the opposite problem — it's hard to pick just one dud.

But with some of the duds not even pitching an entire inning, it's easy enough to touch on a few of them.

The bullpen issues were apparent quickly in Game 1, Dane Dunning walked the first hitter he faced, and he got pulled in his third inning of action after giving up a solo home run that narrowed the Rangers’ lead to one in the sixth.

Then in Game 2 things got wildly ugly at the end. 

We didn’t end up coming especially close to totally blowing the 11-5 lead. But when Brock Burke let two runners get on base with just one out then Jose Leclerc gave up a 3-run home run to make it 11-8 you're lying if you said you didn't start to worry a little. Or maybe more than a little.

It was almost a repeat in Game 3, with Aroldis Chapman immediately loading the bases and getting pulled in less than one inning, but this time Leclerc got the out he needed to get us out of the jam.

When the offense is firing like it has been, the Rangers can't afford to have their bullpen flirting with blowing leads every night.

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