Rangers Budding Star Pitcher Appears to Have Found Mojo Again After IL Stint

The Texas Rangers lost a heartbreaker to the hated rival Houston Astros on Sunday afternoon with a chance to take the four-game set.

Though the loss stung tremendously -- especially the way it went down in the eighth inning -- there were some really nice things to take away from the series, and one of them was the man credited with the lion's share of the runs.

At the beginning of the season, rookie right-hander Jack Leiter was looking like one of the best pitchers in baseball. After being pulled from an early April start against the Cincinnati Reds despite giving up just one hit in five innings, he lost a few weeks due to a blister on his pitching hand.

The start against the Reds came on April 2 and Leiter did not pitch again until April 27, struggling his way through the next couple starts and understandably looking rusty.

In his last two outings though, Leiter looks like he has found that form from the beginning of the season once again.

Jack Leiter Looks Like a Superstar for the Rangers

In a start last week against the Colorado Rockies, Leiter tossed six innings of two-hit ball and gave up just one run.

On Sunday he was even better against the Astros through six, holding Houston hitless with just six pitches in the first six frames of the game.

Leiter wound up giving up a home run in the 7th before back-to-back hits in the eighth and a home run for Isaac Paredes allowed by Robert Garcia after the rookie was pulled gave him three earned runs on the day.

Though he was not able to power his team to what would have been a huge victory, Leiter's resurgence is a massive development for a Texas team who needs to continue to get strong pitching in order to contend.

Leiter's overall ERA on the season of 4.25 does not represent the figure of a superstar pitcher, but the way he performed before the injury and now is once again weeks later absolutely is ace-like stuff.

If the 25-year-old has gotten himself to a point where those middle of the season starts were simply him feeling his way back from injury rather than rookie struggles, it will be huge for the Rangers.

Leiter pitching the way he did in Sunday afternoon's loss puts this staff in a position where they have multiple stars they can hand the ball to on any day of the week.

If things can stay that way, tremendous things are ahead for this team.