Choo in center field? Kiner-Falefa in left? Rangers almost had to go there

Greetings from the AT&T Park, where it was brilliantly sunny Saturday afternoon but two-jacket chilly in the shade.

All that sun, though, was good for the new grass in the outfield after a bad-for-grass Ed Sheeran concert Wednesday.

AT&T Park is a venue for my non-baseball events during baseball season. Over the All-Star break, for instance, a rugby tournament was held.

That wasn’t good for the grass either.

The Texas Rangers will open their new ballpark in 2020, and ownership wants to turn it into a 24/7/365 entertainment venue. They’re either going to be paying for a bunch of new grass throughout the season or putting down artificial turf.

It’s unthinkable to tarnish a $1.1 billion stadium by not using real grass, right?

Right?

Here’s some Rangers Reaction from a 5-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants.

1. The Rangers had a chance again to win their second straight game despite seeing their starting pitcher allow four runs in the first inning. Martin Perez copied Drew Hutchison on Friday.

Manager Jeff Banister did all he could, too. Adrian Beltre pinch hit in the ninth for Ronald Guzman. Isiah Kiner-Falefa pinch hit for Carlos Tocci. Carlos Perez, recalled earlier in the day, hit for pitcher Chris Martin.

Perez did so with the bases loaded and the tying run at second base. Had he delivered a tie game or put the Rangers ahead, the bottom of the ninth was going to be interesting defensively.

“We were going to go with the guys that have been regular players for us,” Banister said. “It was a tough situation for Carlos. It probably would have been fun if we’d tied it up or taken the lead to see where everyone was going to play.”

Here’s how Banister and his staff mapped it out:

Shin-Soo Choo was going to move from left field to center field, which he hasn’t played since 2013. Kiner-Falefa was going to play left field, which he hasn’t played in his rookie MLB season.

Beltre was going to stay in the game at third base, and Jurickson Profar was going to replace Mazara at first.

Banister said that the Rangers also considered Kiner-Falefa at catcher and Robinson Chirinos at first base. Kiner-Falefa had to remain in the game with Perez out of the game and unable to serve as the backup catcher.

“It was organized chaos,” Banister said. “We just felt like in a tie ballgame — if we’d taken the lead maybe there would have been a little different configuration — we’ve got to keep Adrian’s bat in the lineup.”

Beltre took grounders at third base Friday and said that his left hamstring is healthy enough to play defense, and he expects to start Sunday in the series finale against Derek Holland.

It’s always fun watching Beltre play defense, but a bottom of the ninth would have been a hoot Saturday.

2. It appears as if former Rangers outfielder Leonys Martin will make a full recovery from a bacterial infection that nearly killed him, and his well-being has captured the thoughts of many Rangers players.

The strong-armed center fielder became ill Aug. 7 after his game with the Cleveland Indians and spent 11 days in the hospital before being released. The infection released toxins in Martin’s blood stream and affected the function of his organs. They will need time to recover before Martin can begin working out again.

“I talked to him Wednesday,” Chirinos said. “He almost lost his life because of that. That’s why I tell the guys, we live our lives and we think things happen to other people and are never going to happen for us. You never know what it’s our day. We can’t take little things for granted and need to live every day like it’s our last.”

Martin endured what has been described as human smuggling in fleeing Cuba but was always quick with a laugh. He was the brunt of some jokes because of his high-pitched voice, and the Rangers had trouble seeing their light-hearted former teammate so close to death.

“It was serious,” shortstop Elvis Andrus said. “He said is doing better. It was pretty bad. It is shocking, but he’s good now.”

3. So is Joey Gallo, who left Friday’s game early after twisting his left ankle while swinging for an RBI single in the eighth inning of an eventual 7-6 victory. Not at all life-threatening, for those wondering, and he pinch hit Saturday in the eighth inning.

Gallo said on Friday that the injury looked worse than it felt and that he was fortunate to have “very flexible ankles.”

That wasn’t the only highlight of an interview in which Gallo said he had had an MRI but meant x-rays and that he was going to treat it overnight with stem cells but meant an electronic stimulation stick.

“I don’t know what it is,” he said.

Now, back to the ankles.

“I guess the term is ‘loose,’” Gallo said. “That’s what I asked the guy. They just say, ‘You have loose ankles.’”

It’s a thing. People with loose ankles don’t have as many ligaments around the joint and are more susceptible to twists and sprains.

“I’m serious,” he said.

Fortunately for the Rangers, his injury isn’t. Gallo is closing in on a second straight 40-homer season and has lifted his batting average to .212 from .187 since the All-Star break.

This story was originally published August 25, 2018 at 7:33 PM.