This time Jose Leclerc gets Khris Davis and secures Rangers’ win over A’s
Before Wednesday’s game, the last time Jose Leclerc faced Oakland’s Khris Davis was July 25 in Arlington. It was the bottom of the ninth and the Rangers were clinging to a 5-4 lead. With a man on and two outs, Davis ripped a 2-2 pitch for a two-run, game-winning home run. It was Leclerc’s fourth blown save this season, but also his last.
The third-year right-hander struck out Davis Wednesday afternoon for the first out in the ninth inning as the Rangers held on to salvage the series finale 4-2 at Oakland Coliseum.
Did it feel good?
“Yeah, why not,” said Leclerc, who earned his sixth save after striking out Matt Olson with the bases loaded to secure the win. “You got me, I got you. It’s something we have to do.”
Rangers manager Jeff Banister hopes the moment against Davis and Leclerc escaping a bases-loaded jam in the ninth will help him next season when he’s likely to enter spring training as Texas’ closer.
“I thought it was a really nice confidence boost for him, especially in that situation after walking [Matt] Chapman [to start the inning],” Banister said. “Chapman laid off some really good sliders in that set. Credit to him. But credit to Jose to come back and get Davis and then throughout the entire inning, how it played out, to get back in focus and record the last out there was big for him. One that I know it will go a long ways moving forward with him.”
Five thoughts from Wednesday afternoon’s 4-2 win:
1. Let’s lead with this — What better way to snap a 19-inning scoreless stretch (going back to the eighth on Sunday) than a Shin-Soo Choo first-pitch, lead-off homer? Choo homered on Edwin Jackson’s first pitch Wednesday to crack the ice on the Rangers’ offense. It’s the fourth lead-off homer this season for Choo and 27th of his career, including 16 with Texas. It’s the 14th first-pitch home run his in the majors this season.
2. Beltre — Adrian Beltre’s RBI single in the third gave Texas a 2-0 lead. It’s Beltre’s 1,686th RBI and 3,139th hit. He’s two shy of tying Tony Gwynn for No. 18 all-time. He needs nine RBIs to tie Cal Ripken for 27th all-time with 1,695 RBIs.
3. Gallo and Tex — Joey Gallo, whose solo homer in the fourth gave Texas a 3-0 lead, now has 33 this season, making him the first Rangers player to hit 33 or more homers in two consecutive seasons since Mark Teixeira in 2005-06.
4. Odor’s 0-fer — Rougned Odor, who has been on fire at the plate during the second half, hit a wall in Oakland. He went 0 for 12 with five strikeouts and one walk. His batting average, which had climbed to .279 after Sunday’s 2 for 3 game, is down to .270.
5. Oakland’s attendance — This, of course, is not breaking news, but the Athletics aren’t drawing very well at Oakland Coliseum, despite being in a division race with the Astros. For the 12:35 p.m. (local start) Wednesday game, 13,139 was the announced attendance. That’s up from the previous two night games, which drew roughly 9,000 and 11,500. Much respect, however, to those fans who are showing up. They make a lot of noise and are supporting a fun team to watch in the A’s. The decrepit condition of the Coliseum doesn’t seem to bother them and that’s as a cool as the Bay Area breeze.