Alexy nearly flawless in debut as Rangers beat Rockies 4-3

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — A.J. Alexy won his major league debut pitching one-hit ball through five shutout innings while DJ Peters, Leody Taveras and Nick Solak homered in consecutive innings as the Texas Rangers hung on to beat the Colorado Rockies 4-3 on Monday.

Alexy (1-0) allowed only a second-inning double to C.J. Cron. The 23-year-old who was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock earlier in the day struck out four and walked three throwing 81 pitches. Alexy helped himself in the fifth following a leadoff walk to Raimel Tapia by picking him off first base for the second out.

“My confidence was through the roof yesterday,” said Alexy, who was obtained from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the July 31, 2017 Yu Darvish trade. “And then once I got into the pre-game bullpen, then it was, ‘All right, here we go. Time to actually do it.’ My emotions have been all over.”

“I think they hit, what, two balls hard off him?” Texas manager Chris Woodward asked. “The Cron hit was perfectly placed. We were playing him in left-center, and he hit one right down the line.”

Local product Trevor Story hit a solo homer in the seventh inning and a two-run shot in the eighth for Colorado.

“He had some life on his fastball,” Story said of Alexy. “I feel like he didn’t miss much over the plate.”

Joe Barlow, who was activated from the 10-day injured list before the game, pitched a perfect ninth inning for his third save in three opportunities.

Texas has won two straight games for the first since a three-game winning streak July 31-Aug. 2.

The only other pitcher in Rangers history to allow only one hit going at least five innings in his debut was Roger Pavlik, who limited the Chicago White Sox to one hit in six innings on May 2, 1992.

Peters’ homer...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Alexy-nearly-flawless-in-debut-as-Rangers-beat-16424145.php