Rangers reaction looks at the Carlos Gomez factor 10 games in

Forgive me, if you’ve been waiting to read this Reaction. I was busy watching the Texas Longhorns and Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

As you’ve probably heard, Rangers bench coach Steve Buechele’s son Shane is a true freshman quarterback for the Longhorns. He was playing his first ever college game after a standout career at Arlington Lamar.

Knowing Steve a little bit and hearing such good things about Shane (on and off the field) I wanted to see as much as I could before getting back to the Rangers’ 7-6 loss to the Astros on Sunday.

Truth be told, there’s not much more to cover about Sunday’s game or the sparkling, perhaps season-defining, 8-2 home stand by the Rangers, that wasn’t touched on in the game story.

Shane Buechele started Sunday night and helped lead the Longhorns to 50-47 double overtime win over the Irish. He completed 16 of 26 passes for 280 yards, with an interception and two touchdowns, including one for 72 yards. Nice debut. It should make for a nice flight to Seattle for dad.

Here are three Carlos Gomez-centric thoughts after the Rangers home stand that left them 9 1/2 games ahead of the Astros with 25 remaining:

1. Watch Carlos Go[mez] — Carlos Gomez was quick to point out that the Rangers have won eight of their 10 games since he joined the club. Gomez, like many of his teammates, seems completely preoccupied with winning and winning in the postseason. That, of course, is music to a manager’s ears. In Sunday’s game, Gomez collected his eighth hit with the Rangers. In his 10 games with Texasa, he has eight RBIs, six runs scored and two homers. For comparison, and to help Astros fans toss and turn a little more, it took him 40 games with the Astros this season to collect eight RBIs and two homers and 23 games to score six runs. A few more granules of salt in Houston’s wound: He grounded into four double plays in his first 14 games with the Astros. He has none in 10 games with the Rangers. And finally, Gomez walked once and had no stolen bases in his first 10 with the Astros but has walked three times and stolen two bases for the Rangers.

2. It’s just a flesh wound — His second steal came Sunday and he was injured on the play. His helmet came off when he slid head-first into shortstop Carlos Correa and it cut a gash above his left eye and on his nose. He immediately began to bleed and had get patched up but stayed in the game. He received three stitches above his eye after the game.

“Right away I felt blood in my eye,” Gomez said. “Correa said right away, ‘Hey, you’re cut. I said I know.”

Gomez called the wound mostly superficial and that it was stitched up so that it wouldn’t get contaminated so easily. Although Gomez was picked off soon after, it’s hard to complain about his production since joining the Rangers.

“[He brings] a lot of aggressiveness,” Adrian Beltre said. “He can play any position in the outfield. He plays with a lot of passion. He’s a guy who can create runs in different ways.”

3. An opportunity — In the sixth, Gomez noticed the Astros infielders were playing deep, so he punched a bunt down the first-base line and eluded the tag from pitcher Chris Devenski with a head-first slide.

“I saw where they were playing me. I kept it in mind. They should be playing me in so I dropped the bunt,” said Gomez, whose whatever-it-takes attitude has been front and center since joining the Rangers. The former All-Star got a dose of reality when the Astros released him Aug. 19 and the opportunity to restart his career in Arlington and have mentors such as Beltre and Carlos Beltran, seems to be a godsend.

“I’m happy to be on the best team in the American League. I’ve been here for 10 games and we’ve won eight so I’m happy,” he said.

This story was originally published September 5, 2016 at 1:12 AM with the headline "Rangers reaction looks at the Carlos Gomez factor 10 games in."