Texas rookie keeps scoreless start intact thanks to ball boy and pickle juice

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 with the electrolyte-filled containers.

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. The coaching staff is only allowed one mound visit per inning without having to pull the pitcher from the game, and the Rangers used theirs on a ball boy and pickle juice.

"When he came out there, I said, ‘Oh no,’" Rocker said. "That was a good