ARLINGTON, Texas — Fresh off their first road series, the Texas Rangers were back in Arlington for a series against the Kansas City Royals to kick off this week. The Rangers took care of business in the first two games which included their first walk-off win of the season on Tuesday night.
However, a darker cloud descended on Globe Life Field mid-way through that game as Corey Seager’s hamstring injury, and a blowout loss in the finale, dampened things for Texas ahead of a trip to Houston to begin their slate against division opponents.
Here’s a look back at what transpired against KC:
Record breakers
One of the best things about sports is that you never know what you’re going to see. An unsuspecting crowd in Arlington on Monday night showed up and saw some history. The line for Andrew Heaney’s first start last week against Baltimore looked pretty bad. The line for the first inning in the opener against Kansas City didn’t look much better.
Even though Heaney struck out three to retire the side in the first, the strikeouts were sandwiched between a single, a steal, a walk, an error and a run scored. But still, Heaney struck out three in the first.
And then he just kept striking people out.
After striking Edward Olivares, Matt Duffy and Nicky Lopez in the first, Heaney set down Hunter Dozier, Nate Eaton and Jackie Bradley, Jr in the second. In the third, Bobby Witt, Jr, Olivares again and Pasquantino fell victim to Heaney’s strikeout stuff. In the fourth, Salvador Perez was sent down, resulting in Heaney striking out every Royal at least once.
It took Matt Duffy lining out to Adolis Garcia to break the streak, but history had been made, as Heaney set a Texas Rangers’ record for consecutive strikeouts in a single game with nine (Nolan Ryan had seven in 1991) and tied an American League record for the same stat, sharing space with Tyler Anderson and Doug Fister.
On Tuesday, Jacob deGrom ended up breaking the Rangers’ record for most strikeouts over his first three starts, breaking Nolan Ryan’s record of 26. He struck out Hunter Dozier swinging on a 92-mph slider on the edge of the zone to close out seven innings of extremely strong work.
Also Tuesday, Corey Seager tied the Rangers’ record for consecutive games with an extra-base hit and a walk with his fifth straight game with that combination. He tied the record set by Rafael Palmeiro in 2002. However, that bit of history would have dubious consequences for Texas.
The injuries begin
On that double to tie Palmeiro, Seager pulled up halfway between first and second on a ball to left field that could have certainly been a triple under better circumstances. He came up lame around second base but was able to walk off of the field under his own power, though in obvious pain.
Second-year man Josh Smith would replace him at shortstop and the official early diagnosis came back as a Grade 2 strain that will erase at least four weeks from Seager’s season. The team recalled Leody Taveras from his rehab assignment at Triple-A Round Rock. While down in the minors, Taveras had 3 hits in 14 at-bats, including a grand slam in his last game for the Express.
Before that, however, Mitch Garver hit the injured list with a right knee sprain prior to Monday’s opener against KC. The team recalled journeyman catcher Sandy Leon, but had to open a spot on the 40-man roster. To do that, they put reliever Spencer Howard on the 60-day IL.
Catching up to the bottom
While Jonah Heim, Travis Jankowski and Bubba Thompson all had significant contributions over the course of the Royals series, the big hitters started to come out of hibernation as well. Seager, Nathaniel Lowe, Marcus Semien and Garcia all had extra base hits to drive in runs, with Garcia hitting the Rangers’ first grand slam of the season in Monday’s win.
The middle and bottom of the lineup worked together to save the second game of the series on Tuesday, as Garcia hit a game-tying single in the bottom of the 10th. Following a Josh Jung walk, Heim rocketed a walk-off, three-run, 430-foot homer to send the crowd home happy.
Sweeping ain’t easy
The good news for the Rangers is that the loss in the series finale can’t directly be blamed on Seager’s absence. The bad news is that it was a really ugly game all the way around. Starter Nathan Eovaldi was definitely off his game, but because of the extra inning struggles by the bullpen the day before, he had to struggle through five innings. Eovaldi ultimately gave up ten hits and was tagged for six runs. While he struck out seven, the Royals certainly weren’t fooled when the righty left them out over the plate.
Taylor Hearn took over for Eovaldi and had a sparkling clean 6th inning before crashing hard in the 7th. He struggled with command, giving up a couple of walks and a string of singles to blow the game open at 10-1.
The lineup, which admittedly looked a lot different with Smith taking over for Seager in the two-hole, was far more anemic than it had been the previous three games. Jung, Lowe, and Brad Miller tallied hits, and while Lowe’s was responsible for the lone Rangers’ run on Wednesday with a solo home run, that was it. Brad Keller held the Rangers in check over 6 ⅔ innings, giving up just three hits while striking out seven. On the night, Texas had just one at-bat with a runner in scoring position.
Worse, it was the defense that was once again exposed in the final game of the series. Robbie Grossman, signed as the lone acquisition in the offseason that wasn’t a pitcher, was timid in left field after being a disaster in his tryout in right field.
Potentially unrelated, Grossman heads into the Thursday off day and road trip to Houston on an 0-for-18 slump. Jung had a couple of defensive miscues. All of those misplays led to runs that might not have been, and while they weren’t scored errors, they should have been plays that were made.
Garcia, meanwhile, seems to have whatever the catching version of the yips is; not just in Wednesday’s finale, but several times in the last week, Garcia has overran, underran or just flat out missed catching fly balls that would previously have been easy for him.
The Royals series was a mix of really high highs (Heaney, deGrom, Heim) and really low lows (the injuries and the entirety of the finale). In many ways, that seems to foreshadow how the season might go for Texas. It’s the nature of how they built the team filled with high risk and high reward.
In the meantime, Texas gets to sleep on it as they travel a few hours south to start the Silver Boot Series beginning on Friday night.
Do you think the Rangers can weather the Corey Seager injury? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
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