The Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-1 on Wednesday to continue their hot start to the season. Their record ballooned to 11-7 after the victory thanks to a solid offensive performance and great pitching. Patrick Corbin made his second start for the Rangers and was great, but almost didn’t make the start because of a potential spider bite. MLB.com reporter Kennedi Landry spoke to Corbin and Bruce Bochy about his Peter Parker run-in.
“We weren’t even sure if he was going to pitch,” Bochy said Thursday. “He had a bite. He could hardly walk when he came into the clubhouse. Some kind of venom got in there. Not sure if it was a spider or what. He was 50/50 on whether he would make the start or not.”
“Something bit me, but I still don’t know what,” Corbin said. “They were able to kind of work it out and just kind of maintain it throughout the day. But it’s pretty sore still. It’s just kind of just something that’s really strange. I was just fortunate to get through yesterday, and I have some time to recover and be good to go.”
The bite on Corbin’s foot did not give the Rangers veteran the ability to sling webs. As far as we know.
A Patrick Corbin ascent could help the Rangers
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The Rangers signed Patrick Corbin after Jon Gray got hurt in spring training. After he failed to live up to his massive contract with the Washington Nationals, Corbin went all offseason without a contract. But he has joined Texas late in the process and put up his best performance in years on Wednesday. With Kumar Rocker struggling and Gray still hurt, Corbin could help their AL West chances.
According to Landry, Wednesday’s start was the first time Corbin faced 16 or fewer batters through five innings since 2018. He went 5.1 innings, allowing five hits and one earned run, earning the win. Whether the spider helped him with that performance, we may never know. But Tom Holland should keep his head on a swivel just in case.
Corbin may not be a regular starter for the Rangers this year, but when he does start, they need to know he can be trusted. That was not the case when he started for the Nationals in the last few years. Texas has high expectations this season, and a supercharged Corbin will help them meet those marks.
