ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers rookie Kumar Rocker kept a scoreless start intact by working through an eventful fifth inning that included downing three small bottles of pickle juice, the last of which resulted in a mound visit charged to a ball boy.
The 25-year-old right-hander apparently cramped up after striking out White Sox outfielder Michael A. Taylor for the first out of the fifth Sunday, prompting a visit from the trainer along with manager Bruce Bochy and pitching coach Mike Maddux.
During the roughly five minutes the staff and the infielders were at the mound, first baseman Jake Burger went to the dugout, grabbed two small bottles of pickle juice and jogged back to the mound.
Rocker quickly downed both bottles, then stretched his legs and threw several warmup pitches, with another break in between for another chat with the trainer.
Rocker stayed in the game and gave up a single to Josh Rojas. With Mike Tauchman at the plate, a ball boy jogged to the mound with a third bottle of pickle juice, which Rocker promptly drank and gave back to him.
Home plate umpire Marvin Hudson, the crew chief, huddled with the other three umpires, and they ruled the Rangers should be charged with a mound visit for the ball boy’s trip.
Rocker retired Tauchman on a grounder to Burger, and after another trip to the mound from the trainer, Rocker got out of the inning with a groundout from Chase Meidroth.
Getting through the fifth gave Rocker a shot at being in the winning pitcher. The Rangers led 2-0 when Rocker was replaced by Chris Martin to start the sixth. Martin gave up a solo homer to Miguel Vargas.
Rocker started in place of right-hander Tyler Mahle on the same the day that Mahle was placed on the injured list with right shoulder fatigue.
Rocker allowed four singles and a walk in five innings. He struck out six.
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