Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

MLB

“Adolis has the last laugh as J-Rod keeps everyone guessing.”

The Rangers broke their home scoring drought when Slugger’s home run narrowly escaped the Mariners’ center fielder, ending a 25-inning dry spell at Globe Life Field, where they’ve typically performed well under Bruce Bochy’s leadership.

 

And it looked like they were well on their way to a 26th straight scoreless inning even as Texas slugger Adolis García drove a ball 106.2 mph to deep center field. Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez leaped at the wall in an attempt to rob the potential home run. For about 10 seconds, the entire stadium, including García as he rounded first base, thought Rodríguez was successful.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

 

Instead, the home run music echoed throughout Globe Life Field, as the ball sailed off the tip of Rodríguez’s glove and García was rewarded with a Statcast-projected 416-foot game-tying solo homer.

 

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

“I told him, ‘Don’t jump at the wall,’” García joked postgame. “But yeah, I thought he caught it. I was just standing at first base. I think [he was doing it on purpose]. I saw he did that last year with [Padres outfielder Fernando] Tatis Jr. I didn’t want to keep running the bases and get out. The pitcher thought he got it, too.”

 

“I did [think he caught it] initially,” Bochy said. “We were having some tough luck with hard-hit balls. If he caught that, I might’ve said uncle. It’s just not going our way. It was a good moment when we knew he didn’t catch it.”

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

 

That then opened up the floodgates for the offense, as rookie outfielder Evan Carter immediately followed with a homer of his own, and the Rangers cruised from there in a 5-1 win over the Mariners to even the three-game set.

 

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

That marked the first time the Rangers have hit back-to-back home runs since Carter and second baseman Marcus Semien did so on Sept. 27, 2023, in Anaheim.

 

“I feel like we just got to score one and then we’re going to score in bunches,” said catcher Jonah Heim, who went 2-for-4 with an RBI. “I think for us, it’s just putting together some good at-bats to get a run on the board and then everybody’s gonna follow. Adolis has been our leader all year, big hits, driving in runs, so not surprised at all.”

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

 

Even as the offense has gone through ups and downs early this season, García has been the driving force in the middle of the lineup. Of his 29 hits, 14 have gone for extra bases (seven homers, seven doubles). His .972 OPS is the highest by a Ranger through the club’s first 25 games of a season (min. 100 PA) since Nick Solak in 2021 (.986).

 

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Over his last 14 games, García is slashing .375/.426/.688 with three homers, six doubles and 12 RBIs.

 

“I feel amazing,” he said. “I feel great. … I’m just trying to take good at-bats this year. I don’t want to be too aggressive and keep swinging through balls.”

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

The Rangers entered the day slashing .182/.282/.254 with a minus-9 run differential in their last six home games, including Tuesday’s 4-0 loss to the Mariners. They went 1-5 during that stretch.

 

In Wednesday’s win, Texas collected eight hits and five walks as it tries to get things back on track offensively.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

 

Bochy said he felt like the swings were so much better than they were in the series-opening loss to the Mariners the previous night, from the hard contact to simply grinding out at-bats and drawing walks.

 

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

One game doesn’t fix an offense, but in addition to García and Heim, Nathaniel Lowe drew two walks, while Carter and fellow rookie Wyatt Langford collected multihit games. It was a team effort on a day when the top two hitters in Semien and Corey Seager combined to go 0-for-6, though they drew a walk apiece.

 

“It’s good to see, especially when you get shut out the night before, you’re looking for a shot in the arm,” Bochy said. “Those are two big hits [from García and Carter]. And it’s good to see both Evan and Wyatt have big days.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

 

Adolis did his thing and the offense started clicking a little bit better. We always talk about bouncing back, being resilient. They had to face another tough pitcher today. I just thought they did a good job.”

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts

NFL

‎ The New England Patriots are gearing up for a crucial offseason, with the combine and free agency on the horizon. In this article,...

NFL

It has been a couple of weeks since the Cleveland Browns ended their season with a 3-14 record. The best thing the Browns had...

NFL

In this new development, Maye is facing criticism for not attending Mike Vrabel’s introductory press conference as the new head coach of the New...

NFL

The New England Patriots finished the 2024 season with a 4-13 record, giving them one of the worst records in the NFL and putting...

Advertisement