Josh Smith

Smith singled in the first inning and was moved to third on an RBI single by Adolis Garcia. He and Garcia would later attempt a successful double steal with two outs, with Garcia swiping second and Smith coming in to score. Smith's two-hit night was much needed. He entered the day with no hits in his last 14 at-bats, but will hopefully round back into form after a strong night at the dish.

Crochet ran into trouble early in this one, allowing two runs in the first inning off an RBI single by Adolis Garcia and a steal of home by Josh Smith. Crochet would go on to pitch three-consecutive scoreless frames with five of his seven strikeouts coming over that span. Crochet hasn't pitched more than four innings in any of his last four starts. Crochet has been a highly discussed trade chip as the MLB trade deadline approaches. He's currently scheduled to start on Sunday against the Mariners, but there's a chance this was his final outing as a member of the White Sox.

Smith went 2-for-4 with two two-run home runs during Sunday's 4-2 win over the Astros.

Blanco made precisely one mistake in this game: a 3-0 fastball to Josh Smith that got a little bit too much plate and left the yard. Otherwise, the Rangers had just one more hit and zero hard hit balls off Blanco. His slider forced an astounding 12 swings-and-misses as his primary pitch and he heads into the All-Star break with 11 quality starts, a 2.96 ERA, and 0.97 WHIP.

Smith was the Rangers' offense in this one. His first inning home run produced their only runs, only hard-hit ball, and one of just two hits in total off Astros' starter Ronel Blanco. Then his eighth inning long ball gave Texas their only insurance. Smith has been one of the surprise performers of the first half with 10 homers, five stolen bases, and an .861 OPS.