Texas Rangers players show their spirit animals

The Texas Rangers let their animal instincts take over in the clubhouse Sunday morning.

A group of about 10 players donned animal masks as media were ushered in for the pregame interview ritual. A couple of players even wore masks during a game of table tennis.

Rangers pitcher Andrew Cashner, who starts Monday night’s series opener at Atlanta, bought the masks online for his teammates. He was wearing an eagle mask because he loves America. What’s the story behind the masks? Uh, not a lot of ‘thinking’ went into it, Cashner said.

“I just ordered them online,” he said. “We’re just idiots. Not much thinking going on. Just having fun, making fun of each other and having a good time.”

Among those wearing masks were Mike Napoli (giraffe), Rougned Odor (monkey), Joey Gallo (rooster, because gallo means rooster in Spanish), Shin-Soo Choo (lion), Drew Robinson (zebra) and Carlos Gomez (horse).

The Rangers closed out their three-game series against the Angels with a 7-6 victory Sunday afternoon at Globe Life Park.

Briefly

▪ Adrian Beltre (left hamstring strain) was placed on the 10-day disabled list. Right-hander Nick Gardewine was recalled from Double A Frisco and pitched a scoreless inning of relief Sunday.

▪ Right-hander Anthony Bass, who was designated for assignment Thursday, cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple A Round Rock.

▪ Will Middlebrooks made his Rangers debut and had an RBI single in his first at-bat Sunday.

This story was originally published September 3, 2017 at 12:52 PM with the headline "Texas Rangers players show their spirit animals."