Rangers Drop Exhibition Finale to Rockies; Guzmán, Taveras Earn Spots on Opening Day Roster

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers fell to the Colorado Rockies by a score of 7-3 on Wednesday night. The Rangers dropped both exhibition games against the Rockies at Globe Life Field this week.

The Rangers were held without a baserunner through the first four innings. Danny Santana spoiled the perfect game with a bloop single to begin the home half of the fifth inning. His single broke the dam for the Rangers. Gallo followed Santana's single with a walk. After Andy Ibáñez flew out, Todd Frazier tucked a three-run home run inside the right field foul pole, tying the game at three runs apiece.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, Kolby Allard struggled mightily in the following inning. He gave up a solo home run to Ryan McMahon to lead off the inning. Matt Kemp and Chris Owings singled and doubled respectively, then Drew Butera snuck a line drive inside the left field foul pole for a three-run home run.

In his final tune-up before the regular season, Rangers starter Jordan Lyles threw 89 pitches (53 strikes) over 4 2/3 innings. He allowed five hits, three runs, three walks, while striking out three Colorado hitters. Similarly to Kyle Gibson the night before, Lyles intentionally worked on a few things that he may not have tried in a regular season game.

“There’s that little fine line of trying to work on everything versus not to turn around and see a six-spot on the scoreboard and feel bad about yourself," Lyles said. "I mixed in a couple pitches or sequences I wouldn’t normally do. I threw two front-door cutters to right-handers. I haven’t done that in four years. I started throwing a little cutter into lefties. I threw two more of those. It’s something I want to sprinkle in and work on. In the first outing or two during the regular season, I want to be able to implement that two or three times.”

Ranges Make Final Roster Decisions

The deadline for clubs to turn in their final rosters to Major League Baseball is 11:00 a.m. CST on Thursday. In his postgame press conference, manager Chris Woodward announced the final roster decisions ahead of that deadline.

RHP Ian Gibaut and LHPs Kolby Allard and Joe Palumbo earned the final spots in the bullpen. Ronald Guzmán won the position battle between him and Greg Bird at first base, even though Guzmán's initial role on the club will be on the bench. Rob Refsnyder, Scott Heineman, and prized prospect Leody Taveras earned the final Opening Day roster spots.

Taveras is undoubtedly the surprise out of camp. Heading into Spring Training in February, the club was not considering him for a spot on the major league roster out of camp. Now as the season begins on Friday (with a little assist from the COVID-19 pandemic), Taveras will be one of the 30 Rangers dressed to take on the Rockies.

“I’m super surprised," Taveras said through a translator. "My intention was to come in here and learn from the veterans. I wanted to work hard between the lines and do what I do best.”

Taveras' role on the club will be primarily as a baserunner and defender. The Rangers also don't plan on keeping him in the big leagues very long as the roster will be cut down twice in the first month of the season. However, his performance in camp could not be ignored by Rangers management, regardless of what role he was given.

“When this camp started, he was more in the prospect group than battling for a spot on the roster," Woodward said. "We had no intention of keeping him. But he just earned it with everything he did.”

The battle between Ronald Guzmán and Greg Bird has been the main event of Rangers position battles. Chris Woodward went into detail about how the club came to the decision between Guzmán and Bird. With neither one earning a starting spot due to Kiner-Falefa being named the third baseman to start the season, the decision ultimately came down to who best complimented the starting lineup.

"We look at our infield defense, being able to put Guzy in late; I can pick and choose when I want to start Guzy. That part of it, regardless of if Birdie made the team, I was going to give Kiner the at-bats in the beginning, at least," Woodward said.

"It doesn't mean we can't make that switch again. I told Guzy he was going to have to earn his playing time. He's working on a lot of things right now, but we will make that switch if anybody starts to fail, or we feel like Guzy's not in a good spot, or Kiner's not, or Frazier, whatever. We're not afraid to make a move quickly."

The Rangers still have one final roster decision to make. The Rangers currently have 38 players on their 40-man roster. Since they have selected the contracts of Edinson Vólquez, Ian Gibaut, and Rob Refsnyder, they have to clear a roster spot before Thursday's 11:00 a.m. deadline.

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