The Rangers came back home for the first of a five-game homestand on Tuesday night. While both the Rangers and Mariners players focused their attention to the field and their competition, the real focus was on Wednesday’s MLB trade deadline at 3:00 PM central time. Texas sent Ariel Jurado, coming off an excellent outing in Oakland, to square off against a familiar Mariners’ foe, Mike Leake.

The Mariners hit the board early with a Domingo Santana home run near the Rangers bullpen. It was the first base hit allowed by Ariel Jurado since the second inning of Thursday’s start against the Athletics (finished his final five innings without allowing a hit). Seattle followed with a solo shot by Rangers killer, Kyle Seager. The Mariners added two runs in the third inning thanks to an RBI single by Daniel Vogelbach and a fielder’s choice by Tim Beckham. Texas countered with a Rougned Odor RBI single in the fourth, but Seattle responded with a Kyle Seager homer in the fifth.

The Rangers added a run on another Danny Santana home run followed by two more RBIs by Rougned Odor. The Rangers tied the ballgame at five by adding another hit by Delino DeShields. Unfortunately, the Mariners offense answered with a two-run triple by Kyle Seager and an RBI single by Tom Murphy. All five Rangers runs came in the middle frames, a tendency shown in the Rangers’ DNA over the past five games. I asked Willie Calhoun after the game if there’s a different approach in the middle and later frames compared to the first three innings where the team struggled to put any offensive numbers the past week. “You see the pitcher once, and then you have an idea of how they are going to attack you.” Willie commented, “I think all of us, we feed off of that. We’re all pretty good hitters so we are able to make adjustments and figure out what they’re trying to do.”

Oh, Danny boy, the homers, the homers are calling. pic.twitter.com/7MkPS4Wppg

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) July 31, 2019

Tuesday night’s outing was a struggle for Rangers’ Ariel Jurado. Jurado pitched four innings, allowed seven hits, four runs, three earned, and walked two. The Mariners made Jurado work, throwing eighty-six pitches in four innings. In Jurado’s last four starts at home, he’s given up eighteen runs in innings one through three. The Rangers bullpen struggled throughout the night as well. Brett Martin pitched two innings and allowed two runs along with Taylor Gurrieri allowing two runs, one earned, in one inning of work. Phillips Valdez pitched an inning and two thirds of scoreless baseball while Kyle Bird finished the ninth recording the final out.

I asked Chris Woodward after the game about what he saw in Jurado tonight. “Thought the first couple of innings he just got hurt by the long ball. I felt like after that his stuff didn’t seem as sharp in the zone, it was hard to tell if he was missing in the big part of the plate. He competed, he wanted to go back out obviously, he just got hit pretty hard today.”

The Rangers and Mariners conclude their brief two-game series Wednesday night at 7. The Rangers have Mike Minor scheduled to start. However, if Minor ends up traded, Chris Woodward says he’ll go with Lance Lynn. The Mariners announced that Wade LeBlanc will start Wednesday nights game. First pitch scheduled for 7:05pm.

Rangers Trade News:

During the top of the fourth inning on Tuesday, the Rangers traded RHP Chris Martin to the Atlanta Braves for LHP Kolby Allard. Considering that Chris is most likely a rental for Atlanta, it becomes a very nice deal for the Rangers. Kolby Allard is a top ten pitching prospect in the Braves system, has a little big league experience, and is only twenty-one years old. Allard was the fourteenth overall pick in the 2015 June draft by the Atlanta Braves. Kolby pitched in three games last season for the Braves and started one game. The Rangers optioned Allard to AAA Nashville following the trade.

Here's the word – Rangers are getting Kolby Allard from Atlanta for Chris Martin #Rangers Credit @Ken_Rosenthal

— Alex Plinck (@aplinckTX) July 31, 2019

Here’s what Jon Daniels said in regards to the trade. “We’re excited to welcome Kolby Allard to Texas. He’s a young starter who already has significant experience at the upper levels. His reputation as a competitor is well known, and we look forward to watching him compete as a Ranger for a long time to come.”

Best of luck in Atlanta. pic.twitter.com/eTV2echdD0

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) July 31, 2019