ARLINGTON, Texas — With the Texas Rangers all but resigned to their fate of a followup to their World Series championship that won’t end with even a sniff at October, it’s still hard to think of any series sweep as “disappointing.”
But, in sweeping the Chicago White Sox in three games to end their second half-long road series losing skid, the Rangers still managed to make the worst team in baseball look like a near equal.
All told, the Rangers swept the southsiders by scores of 2, 1, and 1 run respectively, and it took the Catch of All Catches to hold the White Sox at bay in the doubleheader nightcap. Texas found ways to barely win games that never should have been a struggle.
It’s a glass half empty point of view but a deserved one for a Rangers team that has won only 56 games all year against teams who aren’t in the American League Central cellar.
- Game 132: Texas 3, Chicago 1 (W: Festa, 2-1, L: Flexen, 2-13, Sv: Yates, 24)
- Game 133: Texas 4, Chicago 3 (W: Urena, 5-8, L: Anderson J., 1-1, Sv: Anderson, G., 1)
- Game 134: Texas 2, Chicago 1 (W: Eovaldi, 10-7, L: Nastrini, 0-6, Sv: Yates, 25)
Catch of the year?
While the Rangers’ comprehensive lack of offensive output shone as brightly as ever in this series, individual efforts stood out and provided bright spots amidst a particularly lackluster season.
Travis Jankowski’s literal game-saving catch in the bottom of the ninth of Wednesday’s doubleheader will be shown in highlight reels for years to come, not just for the Rangers, but throughout all of baseball – a remarkable feat for two teams who are a combined 54.5 games out of first place in their respective divisions and playing in a meaningless game at the tail end of August.
The wall-scaling vault that saw “El Blondi” reach over the fence, into the White Sox Bullpen, and take a home run away from Andrew Vaughn, is arguably among the best catches in Rangers’ history. The full extension thievery has already drawn comparisons on social media to Gary Matthews, Jr’s legendary robbery of Mike Lamb at The Ballpark in Arlington in 2006, another miraculous grab in an otherwise lost season.
Making hist-Corey
Another of the scant bright spots from this season is the tear that Corey Seager has been on as of late. In his last 30 games, Seager is slashing .296/.336/.608, including going 11-for-30 this last week.
In the finale of this series, in the top of the fourth of a scoreless affair, Seager launched one deep to the back of the right field bleachers at Guaranteed Rate Field, the first of the Rangers’ two runs on the day in a 2-1 victory.
The blast was Seager’s 30th on the season, but more importantly, his 200th overall. The $325 million man made even more history by becoming the first purely left-handed hitting shortstop to hit 200 long balls. Texas might not be making a run to the playoffs, but Seager is doing his best to provide some entertainment down the stretch.
Leiter gets his shot
For the first time in three months, pitching prospect Jack Leiter took the hill in a big league ballgame. After a couple of false starts earlier in the season, Leiter, having been called up amidst the Rangers’ recent rotation worries, started the second game of the doubleheader on Wednesday after Tuesday’s opener was put on hold after just four pitches.
While Leiter didn’t pitch long enough to record his first Major League win, the former No. 2 overall pick out of Vanderbilt did go four innings while allowing just two runs in his best outing thus far with the big league squad.
It didn’t appear at first as though Leiter had learned anything from his banishment back to the minor leagues, as the start against Chicago began with a disastrous first inning wherein Leiter walked the leadoff hitter, saw the second batter reach via catcher’s interference, and then an Andrew Benintendi double gave the White Sox an early 2-0 lead.
But unlike in his other three starts with the Rangers this season, Leiter was able to prevent any more damage, although Chicago hitters reached base at least once in each inning that he pitched. Nevertheless, it was a step forward for a young pitcher who, for now, looks like he’ll be part of the rotation down the stretch for an extended look.
Ultimately, this series didn’t do much to increase the Rangers’ chances to get to the playoffs, they’re still nine games back. But the momentum of sweeping one terrible team, with another terrible team arriving in Arlington as Texas opens up a homestand against the Oakland Athletics on Monday, might be the last best chance for the Rangers to go on the winning tear that has escaped them all season.
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