The Texas Rangers won three of their first four games of the season and headed Sunday night to Cincinnati for the first road trip of the season. Rookie right-hander Kumar Rocker was the scheduled starter Monday night after he watched Jacob deGrom throw five scoreless innings Sunday and former college teammate Jack Leiter throw five strong innings Friday. Rocker’s spring continued to improve after two stinkers to start the Cactus League season. The key will be his ability to command his slider. Big-league hitters won’t swing if they see it as a ball out of the hand. As for deGrom, he was very good but not as good as he thinks he can be as he works on his mechanics.

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