Rocker plays stopper as Rangers' young hurler tosses 6 one-hit frames

ARLINGTON -- When asked how to get back on track after Monday night’s blowout loss to the White Sox, manager Skip Schumaker made it seem pretty simple.

“Win a game,” he said. “That's how you get back on track. Tomorrow Kumar Rocker going. It's going to be important for him to get off a good start to keep us in the game. It always starts with starting pitching.”

Sure, it’s maybe not quite that simple. But Rocker did exactly that.

The Rangers’ right-hander tossed six scoreless innings in their 10-0 win over the White Sox on Tuesday night, looking effective and efficient from the outset. He allowed just one hit, a leadoff single from Munetaka Murakami in the fourth inning. He walked two, but no Chicago hitter even made it into scoring position.

It’s tied for the longest scoreless start of his young career. He last did so on June 28 in Toronto. It was his first win since May 19 in Colorado, when he pitched behind an opener.

With the Rangers up, 10-0, Rocker’s day ended at just 75 pitches and six innings. But it may have been the best 75 he’s thrown this season.

Schumaker credited Rocker’s start with a slight uptick in fastball velocity to go along with better command of his slider and a new splitter that he’s been working on for the last few weeks. He threw six splitters against the White Sox on Tuesday, all to left-handed hitters.

“It's just consistent,” Rocker said. “It's a little bit slower than my changeup, so that's good. I just picked it up and started rolling with it. I like it a lot right now. …The movement on the changeup was good, but it wasn't enough of a velo difference for it to be very effective. Naturally, with that split, I get better movement, and if the movement isn't there, it's still 86, 87 [mph], and I can put it in the zone.”

And Rocker’s quality start couldn’t have come at a better moment either. In the first four games out of the All-Star break, Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, MacKenzie Gore and Cal Quantrill allowed a combined 20 runs with the Rangers dropping three of those contests.

Rocker played the role of the stopper, putting the Rangers in a position to win and allowing the offense to continue adding on all night long. Brandon Nimmo led the way in that department with four hits, including a homer, and the club rapped out a season-high 18 hits.

“It always starts with starting pitching,” Schumaker reiterated. “Always. Rock set the tone. We needed a strong start. We needed a reset in that bullpen. The offense really helped with that. We needed a combination tonight to reset that bullpen and to have a strong start from Rock. I said it last night, it always starts from a good starting pitching. Rock provided that.”

It goes without saying, but the Rangers could certainly use more of that version of Rocker down the stretch.

“He's in the four or five in the rotation, and he's having a great year for that slot,” Schumaker said. “He really is. He's throwing a lot of innings for him in his young career already. We’re trying to monitor that.

“But to see the velo tick up after the All-Star break with the slider command, with the cutter usage ticking up, him feeling confident throwing the new split grip, that was exciting for us to see. It was really good to see him step up right there for the team when we really, really needed it. It means a lot. If we can get him back on track and have a really good second half, that does a lot for us.”