Leiter's career night backs Jung's 2-homer game in Texas' 4th straight win

ARLINGTON -- In his 12th career start, Rangers righty Jack Leiter finally reached a milestone that is a necessary step for anyone with any hopes of developing into a Major League ace: getting through six innings for the first time.

Leiter, one of the Rangers’ most touted pitching prospects since the turn of the century, picked up his first career quality start to lead the Rangers to a series-clinching 4-1 win over the Rockies on Tuesday at Globe Life Field. The Rangers (22-21) have now won four straight and are back above .500 for the first time since April 30.

But looking simply at Leiter’s innings pitched and earned run numbers don’t tell the whole story. Perhaps he has been more dominant in a big league start -- manager Bruce Bochy pointed to Leiter’s April 2 outing in Cincinnati, where he dealt five scoreless innings, struck out six and allowed only one hit before he had to leave due to a blister. But Leiter made it deeper into Tuesday’s game while giving up only two hits and minimal hard contact, outside of a few deep flyouts that Rangers outfielders ran down. He struck out five and walked three.

“I think I still could’ve done a better job of it and potentially pitched deeper into that game,” Leiter said after his third career win. “But when you know the bullpen is kind of light, you’ve got to attack even more and do everything you can to get deep into a game. That’s what I tried to do.”

The bullpen was “light” because closer Luke Jackson took a comebacker off the hand Monday, and it may have gotten even thinner after Chris Martin departed due to elbow tightness after only one pitch in the ninth Tuesday. Whether Jackson’s unavailability played a role in Bochy’s willingness to stick with Leiter after he issued a one-out walk in the sixth, the manager didn’t think Leiter’s night needed to end just then.

“His stuff was still really good,” Bochy said. “He’s got a lot of strength and stamina and he maintains his stuff even though he’s at 85, 90 pitches.”

Leiter threw 89 pitches, and in his mind, if more than 57 of them were strikes, perhaps he’d have seen the seventh inning for the first time as a Major Leaguer.

“I kind of wasted some pitches, got behind on some non-competitive walks -- you turn those into quick outs [instead] and you’re going back out for the seventh, for sure,” Leiter said.

Leiter worked his way out of trouble whenever it found him. He issued a one-out walk in the sixth, but recorded his final two outs on a double-play ball when he got Rockies cleanup hitter Hunter Goodman to hit a grounder weakly to short.

The 25-year-old Leiter was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 Draft and the club’s top prospect in ‘22, according to MLB Pipeline, before joining the Rangers in April last season. But neither 2024 nor the early part of 2025 were easy for him. He entered Tuesday coming off forgettable losses in his previous two outings, when he posted a 9.31 ERA (10 ER in 9 2/3 IP).

Leiter’s solid outing Tuesday lowered the starters’ combined ERA to 2.96, lower than every MLB team but the Mets (2.65) and Royals (2.93).

Offensively, Josh Jung was the sole catalyst. He blasted a three-run homer in the first inning before drilling a solo homer in the eighth for a crucial insurance run. Jung credited new hitting coach Bret Boone with helping him simplify his approach at the plate.

“[Boone] just brings the perspective that you don’t need all the other stuff -- just play ball, watch the game,” Jung said. “The game’s going to tell you things -- seeing how they’re pitching other people right in front of you, or in the lineup that are kind of similar to you, and see if we can attack it that way.”