Texas rookie Kumar Rocker keeps scoreless start intact with help from pickle juice

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Texas rookie Kumar Rocker keeps scoreless start intact with help from pickle juice

2025-06-16 06:51 Last Updated At：07:00

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Texas Rangers rookie Kumar Rocker kept a scoreless start intact by working through an eventful fifth inning that included downing three small bottles of pickle juice, the last of which resulted in a mound visit charged to a ball boy.

The 25-year-old right-hander had already chugged two bottles of the dehydration-fighting juice in the dugout as he dealt with cramping in his legs before getting the victory in a 2-1 win over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.

“I think he broke the record on bottles of pickle juice he drank today,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said.

After Rocker struck out Michael A. Taylor for the first out of the fifth, the trainer visited the mound along with Bochy and pitching coach Mike Maddux.

During the roughly five minutes the staff and the infielders were at the mound, first baseman Jake Burger went to the dugout, grabbed two small bottles of pickle juice and jogged back to the mound.

Rocker quickly downed both bottles, then stretched his legs and threw several warmup pitches, with another break in between for another chat with the trainer.

Rocker stayed in the game and gave up a single to Josh Rojas. With Mike Tauchman at the plate, a ball boy jogged to the mound with a third bottle of pickle juice, which Rocker promptly drank and gave back to him.

Home plate umpire Marvin Hudson, the crew chief, huddled with the other three umpires, and they ruled the Rangers should be charged with a mound visit for the ball boy's trip.

“When he came out there, I said, ‘Oh no,’” Rocker said. “That was a good one. That was a different one.”

Rocker retired Tauchman on a grounder to Burger, and after another trip to the mound from the trainer, Rocker got out of the inning with a groundout from Chase Meidroth.

Getting through the fifth gave Rocker (2-4) a shot at being the winning pitcher. The Rangers led 2-0 when Rocker was replaced by Jacob Webb to start the sixth.

“I drank everything today,” Rocker said with a smile and a chuckle after allowing four singles and a walk with six strikeouts.

Webb gave up a solo homer to Miguel Vargas, but the right-hander and two more Texas relievers held the White Sox scoreless over the final 3 2/3 innings. Luke Jackson finished for his ninth save.

Rocker was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock and started in place of right-hander Tyler Mahle on the same the day that Mahle was placed on the injured list with right shoulder fatigue.

The former Vanderbilt star had been sent to the minors for development after rough starts on either side of a rehab stint. Rocker spent time on the injured list with a right shoulder impingement.

Mahle's injury forced Rocker back to the big leagues earlier than planned, and he probably earned another start with his outing — as long as he can keep himself hydrated.

“It's a great opportunity,” Rocker said. “To help these guys, you've got to be a winning player. And just one day at a time, that's all you can do. It's been a fun week.”

This story has been corrected. Jacob Webb, not Chris Martin, was the pitcher who replaced Kumar Rocker.

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Police search Brown University after shooter kills 2 and wounds 8 on campus

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A shooter dressed in black killed at least two people and wounded eight others at Brown University on Saturday during final exams on the Ivy League campus, authorities said, and police were searching for the suspect.

University President Christina Paxson said she was told that all 10 people who were shot were students. Another person was injured by fragments from the shooting, authorities said.

Officers scattered across the campus and into an affluent neighborhood filled with historic and stately brick homes, searching academic buildings, backyards and porches for hours late into the night after the shooting erupted in the afternoon.

The suspect was a male in dark clothing who was last seen leaving the engineering building where the attack happened, said Timothy O’Hara, deputy chief of Providence police.

Some witnesses told them the suspect, who could be in his 30s, may have been wearing a camouflage mask, O'Hara said.

Investigators were not yet sure how the shooter got inside the first-floor classroom. Outer doors of the building were unlocked, but rooms being used for final exams required badge access, Providence's mayor said.

Authorities believe the shooter used a handgun, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Rhode Island has some of the strictest gun laws in the U.S. Last spring the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed an assault weapon ban that will prohibit the sale and manufacturing of certain high-powered firearms, but not their possession, starting next July.

“The unthinkable has happened,” Democratic Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee said.

Mayor Brett Smiley said a shelter-in-place remained in effect and encouraged people living near the campus to stay inside or not return home until it is lifted. Streets that normally bustle with activity on weekends were eerily quiet.

“We have all available resources” to find the suspect, Smiley said.

Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the engineering building’s lobby working on a final project when she heard loud pops coming from the east side.

Once she realized they were gunshots, she darted for the door and ran to a nearby building where she was waited for a couple of hours.

Eight people with gunshot wounds were taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where six were in critical but stable condition, according to Kelly Brennan, a spokesperson for the hospital. Another was in critical condition and one was stable, she said.

University officials initially told students and staff that a suspect was in custody, before later saying that was not the case. The mayor said a person preliminarily thought to be involved was detained but was later determined to have no involvement.

Nearly five hours after the shooting, officers in tactical gear led students out of some campus buildings and into a fitness center.

The shooting occurred in the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the School of Engineering and physics department. According to the university’s website, the building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices.

Engineering design exams were underway there when the shooting occurred.

Brown senior biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm directly across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside and received a text about an active shooter shortly after 4 p.m.

“I’m just in here shaking,” he said, watching through the window as a half-dozen armed officers in tactical gear surrounded his dorm. He said he feared for a friend who he thought was inside the engineering building at the time.

Students in a nearby lab hid under desks and turned off the lights after receiving an alert about the shooting, said Chiangheng Chien, a doctoral student in engineering who was about a block away from the scene.

Mari Camara, 20, a junior from New York City, was coming out of the library and rushed inside a taqueria to seek shelter. She spent more than three hours there, texting friends while police searched the campus.

“Everyone is the same as me, shocked and terrified that something like this happened,” she said.

President Donald Trump told reporters that he had been briefed on the shooting and “all we can do right now is pray for the victims.”

Brown, the seventh oldest higher education institution in the U.S., is one of the nation's most prestigious colleges, with roughly 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students. Tuition, housing and other fees run to nearly $100,000 per year, according to the university.

Durkin Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists Mike Balsamo and Seung Min Kim in Washington; Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City; Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota; Martha Bellisle in Seattle; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.