One slider too many costs Mike Minor, Texas Rangers in loss to San Francisco Giants
The St. Louis Cardinals are the latest team to have multiple players test positive for COVID-19, and they and the Milwaukee Brewers are the latest teams to have a game postponed because of the disease.
The MLB season might not be far behind.
ESPN was the first to report that MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred informed Tony Clark, head of the MLB Players Association, that the season could be stopped as soon as Monday if teams and players don’t get their acts together in regard to safety protocols.
MLB is investigating what happened with the Miami Marlins, who have had 18 players and two coaches test positive since a series at Philadelphia. Word has started to spread that a player or two broke protocol.
That was the fear all along, that a few players wouldn’t have the willpower to stay out of the bars or restaurants or their sense of invincibility would lead them to making a mistake.
Maybe it was something completely innocent. Hopefully it was.
The Texas Rangers are on the road for the first time this season, and Mike Minor might have wanted to visit a bar after the opener.
Here’s some Rangers Reaction from a 9-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
Minor loses it
At no point in the first four innings did it look like Minor would eventually surrender six runs.
The Giants scored one against him in the second, converting a leadoff double by Evan Longoria into a run, and he pitched well to duck out of the fourth without a run.
His pitch count started to mount in the fifth, but even as it did he was on the verge of getting out of it with a 2-1 lead.
Wilmer Flores, though, swatted a two-out three-run homer on a slider that was off the plate inside, and the Giants added two more in the sixth before manager Chris Woodward had to come get Minor.
It was the third slider of the at-bat.
“We tried to throw another one in there even deeper,” Minor said. “It was like he was looking for it, or maybe he thought he was just missing it on the other ones. He caught it out front and snuck one over the wall. That’s just how it goes.”
The game got away quickly. Minor threw only 37 pitches the first three innings, with the one mistake the Longoria double off the left-field wall. Minor pitched around a leadoff ground-rule double in the fourth, and needed only nine pitches in the inning.
But Minor threw 28 pitches in the fifth and 24 more in the sixth while recording only two outs. The bottom of the order was particularly tough on him, as the last three hitters registered two hits apiece.
“You’ve got to give these guys credit,” Woodward said. “They are scrappy. They may not be households names, but the one thing they do is battle. They don’t give away too many at-bats. There were a lot of tough takes. They put pressure on us, and, unfortunately, Mike left a couple balls up.”
Gallo finds it
Joey Gallo missed one week of summer camp because of a positive COVID-19 test, which cost him valuable time to prepare for the season. He took a ton of at-bats, but still wasn’t quite where he wanted to be when the season started.
But he’s quickly getting there, if he’s not there already.
The right fielder took a walk in the first, doubled in a run in the third and was ticked to not barrel up a hanging slider in the fifth. He struck out in the eighth, but it was his third at-bat in which he took it to a full count.
Gallo saw 21 pitches in the game, and that’s only going to help him hone in even further.
Shin-Soo Choo started the game with a homer on the first pitch. It was the 35th leadoff homer of his career and 24th with the Rangers. That’s five shy of Ian Kinsler’s club record.
Choo was also plunked for the 151st time in his career. That’s the most among active players, one ahead of Anthony Rizzo of the Chicago Cubs.
The rest of the hitters, though, looked as they did at Globe Life Field before the five-run eighth inning Wednesday.
When Rougned Odor popped out with the bases loaded to end the fourth, he was the first of 10 straight Rangers hitters retired before Robinson Chirinos doubled to start the ninth.
“We’re just not getting the big hits,” Woodward said. “We had some big hits in the last game, but we need to start coming through in those situations. Instead of just the walks, we need to add some hits to it.”
Solak’s center adventure
Center field at Oracle Park is big. The wind in San Francisco plays tricks on outfielders, no matter their level of experience.
So, it was a tough assignment for Nick Solak in his first career start in center field, and at times it looked tough.
He managed to make the plays he was supposed to make, although he seemed a bit wobbly headed back, and a more seasoned center fielder catches a Darrin Ruf drive to center that turned into an RBI double as the ball popped out of Solak’s glove as he dived to his left.
“I saw a tough wind out there,” Woodward said. “He doesn’t have a lot of experience out there, but I thought he did a good job. I’ve been in this park a lot, and it seemed like the ball was carrying a lot more than I’ve ever seen it.”
Solak was in center field because Danny Santana was held out of the lineup for a second straight game after a 1-for-17 start in the first four games of the season. But it isn’t the slump that kept him on the bench, it turns out.
Santana has a sore arm and likely won’t be available to start this series, Woodward said. Santana might be available to pinch hit or pinch run.
“He’s OK. He’s just got a little arm soreness and we’re taking it easy on him,” Woodward said. “I don’t want to have him throw or put him in the outfield. He felt it a couple days ago.”
Scott Heineman could start Saturday in center field.
This story was originally published August 1, 2020 at 12:01 AM.
