Andrus playing for greater cause than breakout season

Needing one home run to reach 20, a milestone thought to be impossible for him to reach as recently as June, Elvis Andrus wasted no time on a long Wednesday to collect it.

He went deep in his first at-bat, with two outs in the first inning, launching a fastball out to straightaway center field 400 feet away and watching it splash into the small pond just beyond the wall.

It might have occurred to him in the moment, after the media making such a big deal about it. And it is a big deal, as Andrus has been the Texas Rangers’ MVP since Opening Day and rates as one of the game’s premier shortstops.

Yes, that Elvis Andrus, who is now leading the Rangers as they continue to make noise in the wild-card hunt and is their best player — at least among those with two healthy hamstrings.

As such, he took 20 in stride in the same manner as Adrian Beltre, the future Hall of Famer who is out with a bad left hammy. Andrus’ homer and 4-for-5 day in a 12-8 victory over the Atlanta Braves were for the greater good.

“I’m really proud of the season that I’ve had so far, but it’s not about me,” Andrus said between games of the Rangers’ first doubleheader since May 27, 2013. “It’s about going out there the next game and win and find a way to scratch and get into the postseason. That’s the ultimate prize for me.”

The Rangers (70-69) lost the second game 5-4 to fall two games out of the second wild-card spot. Their 17-9 record after Game 1 was third-best in the majors since Aug. 9, and they were two games above .500 for the first time since May 23.

They needed more than just Andrus’ offense to hold off Atlanta in the opener, and got it from many sources. Mike Napoli launched his 29th homer, Will Middlebrooks had a key pinch-hit two-run triple, and Brett Nicholas drove in two runs from the No. 8 spot in the lineup.

Andrus had three RBIs, one on the homer, another on a two-out single in the third and the last on a double in the seventh. He homered in a third straight game for the first time in his career.

He became the third player in the majors this season to collect 20 homers and 20 steals. The other two were reigning American League MVP Mike Trout and MVP front-runner Jose Altuve.

“You can look at it before this year and put those three named together and say, ‘Who doesn’t fit?’ ” manager Jeff Banister said. “Everybody would know, and that’s Elvis. However, you can’t say that anymore.”

Andrus is up to 80 RBIs, for which he credits Delino DeShields and Shin-Soo Choo for regularly being on base ahead of him. When asked how he would explain his jump from a career-high of eight homers to 20 and counting, he credits the process and “daddy strength” from his 2-month-old son.

He deserves credit, but he won’t take it.

“It’s huge in the absence of a pure power hitter in our lineup,” Banister said. “He’s filling a void right now with Adrian being out. He is a guy that has maximized his power potential. There’s no defense for home runs. For him to be doing what he’s doing is as paramount as any hitter we have in the lineup.”

For Andrus, his success is lining up nicely with the team’s. It doesn’t matter what he’s doing as long as they are sticking around the playoff picture.

But it matters to the Rangers what he does. He’s their MVP, and he’s performing like it when it matters most.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Andrus said. “That’s the competition we want, to be blessed and be able to be in the race. We all are engaging that the right way. Everybody is noticing that we’ve been playing baseball the last month, and it’s going to take a big push from everybody to fight into the postseason.”

AL wild-card standings

Game 1

This story was originally published September 6, 2017 at 7:26 PM with the headline "Andrus playing for greater cause than breakout season."