
Kumar Rocker enjoyed a rough rookie campaign in 2025, even though the Texas Rangers ended the regular season with the best starting rotation in the MLB. The 26-year-old, nevertheless, had a solid opening month to the 2026 campaign. However, Rocker suffered his worst start of the season by a wide margin in a short outing against the Detroit Tigers last week.
On Friday, Kumar Rocker made his seventh appearance of the season for the Texas Rangers in Game 1 of their series against the Chicago Cubs at Globe Life Field. However, the right-handed starter caused a delay at the start of the game after coming up to the mound wearing a white undershirt.
Cubs-Rangers was delayed because Kumar Rocker came out to the mound with white sleeves and was forced to change pic.twitter.com/nmtd5ylCKG
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 9, 2026
The Cubs players noticed it immediately when Kumar Rocker started throwing his warm-up pitches on the mound. The umpires had a quick discussion among themselves before asking Rocker to take off the undershirt. He went into the dugout and reappeared a few minutes later wearing a red one to match the new City Connect uniform the team wears on Friday home games.
Pitchers are not allowed to wear white and grey sleeves or undershirts, as batters could find it harder to see the ball coming out of the hand. Practically, this depends upon the arm angle and release point of a pitcher, but the rules are standard across the game. Therefore, it was rather bizarre that none of the Rangers players or coaches noticed this obvious faux pas from Rocker.
The Chicago Cubs notched their second 10-game winning streak of the 2026 season on Friday. They dismantled the Texas Rangers 7-1 at Globe Life Field in the opening clash of their three-game series. Rocker had another tough outing on the mound, following up his poor start last week.
Kumar Rocker lasted just 3.2 innings after throwing 87 pitches. He struggled to control his pitches, giving up three earned runs from three walks and three base hits, including a two-run homer, to take the loss. He now has a 1-4 record with a 5.01 ERA over 32.1 innings with a 1.520 WHIP.
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