Texas Rangers baseball returned on Friday afternoon with the annual Cactus League opener against the Kansas City Royals.

In a contest that featured 0’s for much of the afternoon, Kansas City used a three-run home run from Tyler Gentry to take a 5-2 lead in the 8th and eventually win by that mark.

Despite it being just the first game of the Spring, there are still always takeaways. Let’s break down three takeaways from the Cactus League opener.

1 Nathan Eovaldi gets his first start of the Spring – The Rangers 2024 Opening Day starter took the bump for the first time this Spring.

Eovaldi worked two innings allowing two runs on two hits while striking out and walking one batter.

Despite the two runs, Eovaldi was one pitch away from getting out of the afternoon unscathed but Nick Loftin came through with a two-out two-RBI single to open the scoring.

2. Dane Dunning Looks Sharpe Early – Perhaps the best performance of a Rangers regular went to none other than Dane Dunning.

Dunning threw two scoreless innings allowing just one hit while striking out two without allowing a walk.

After taking over in the 3rd inning, Dunning completed a 1-2-3 nine-pitch inning making quick work of the middle of the Royals offense.

3. The ABS challenge system is officially in the Rangers history books – Once again, Major League Baseball is implementing new technology.

The automatic ball strike system is in the Rangers’ history books, in the 8th inning second baseman Alan Trejo challenged a strike call and was unsuccessful as the pitch remained a strike.

In the bottom half of the inning, Texas catcher Chad Wallach got his name into the books as he became the first Ranger to win an ABS challenge.

Wallach got a ball overturned to a strike before challenging another pitch later and being unsuccessful.

The Rangers will be back in action tomorrow afternoon when they take on the Giants from Suprise.

Tyler Mahle will make his first start of the Spring at 2:05 PM.