Another loss leaves Texas Rangers seeking a quick fix. Adding this player might help.
A cool scene unfolded Saturday at Oracle Park, when the brothers Heineman played in the same MLB game for the first time.
(Grammar question: Should that be brothers Heinemen?)
Scott is a rookie outfielder for the Texas Rangers. Tyler is a rookie catcher for the San Francisco Giants. They met at home plate before the game with the umpires to discuss the ground rules, posed for a photo (masks on) and then played the game.
They have faced off against each other in college and in the minor leagues, so that part of it wasn’t unique. But two brothers in the same MLB game is.
It hasn’t happened in a Rangers game since 2010, when Bengie Molina and brother Jose both caught in a game against Toronto. There’s a third Molina, Yadier, who is currently sheltered in place in Milwaukee amid a COVID-19 outbreak with the St. Louis Cardinals.
“He’s not my brother when he’s out on the field,” Scott Heineman said. “We are each other’s best friends, we always like to jaw back and forth, keep it competitive, keep it fun. It’s going to be really exciting to just see him on the field.”
He homered in the ninth inning, but the result of the game wasn’t all that exciting for him.
Here’s some Rangers Reaction from a 7-3 loss.
State of the Rangers
Seven games down, and the Rangers are 2-5.
Their offense hasn’t clicked, their rotation has stumbled in the first two games against the Giants, and too many players are dealing with injuries.
Add in the uncertainty COVID-19 is causing across baseball and that players are mostly stuck in their hotel rooms for a week, these are trying times for the Rangers.
Manager Chris Woodward, though, wouldn’t go so far as to say the Rangers are fragile. Frustrated? Yes. Disappointed? Sure.
“They’re still together,” Woodward said. “It hurts my heart to not be able to have the team together as much as possible because that’s what gets you through these tough times. But our leadership and staff have been great. No, I don’t think we’re fragile at all. We just want better results.”
They’re just not getting them. When they have shown a little life at the plate the past two games, the starting rotation hasn’t come through. When the rotation was coming through the first five games, the offense didn’t do squat.
And, for good measure, the defense hasn’t been good enough.
So, Woodward will have to continue trying to find the right combination of hitters, and hope that left-hander Kolby Allard can be a suitable replacement for Corey Kluber on Sunday as the Rangers attempt to avoid a three-game sweep.
“We’re kind of just taking things day by day around here, game by game, start by start,” Allard said. “I’m just going to go out there, every time I’m given the ball, go out there and pitch as deep into the ballgame as I can and give those guys the best chance to win that you can, each and every time out.”
On Sunday, Woodward said that might be 70 pitches. The Rangers will start looking more closely at him at 50 pitches.
The Rangers need Allard to be good. Otherwise, they might creep more toward fragile.
“I don’t think anything’s going our way right now,” Woodward said. “We’ve got to figure things out and we’ve got to get tough. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but right now we’re making it a lot harder on ourselves.”
Leody time?
Danny Santana has a sore right forearm and can only hit left-handed or come off the bench to run. He might be headed to an MRI tube and, depending on what it shows, the injured list.
He was 1-for-17 to start the season, and Woodward has said that the Rangers can’t be a good offense without Santana clicking.
They might have to be, and they might also be without second baseman Rougned Odor (oblique). He grounded out in his only two at-bats, lowering his batting average to .125, before leaving in the third inning.
Woodward said the injury might not require a trip to the injured list after Odor was able to do some rotating without much discomfort. He might not even go for an MRI exam.
Either way, a lot of production the Rangers were counting on that right now they can’t count on.
Heineman made a nice impression in summer camp and has looked good in a few appearances early this season, but the future of center field is Leody Taveras and it might be time to go to him.
He was optioned to the alternate site Tuesday, but he could come back to the active roster without spending 10 days down if Santana lands on the injured list.
The Rangers need a jolt, and Taveras could provide it.
He’s a terrific defensive center fielder. He has speed, can switch-hit and has started showing power at the plate.
Granted, he’s incredibly short on experience, but he doesn’t have anywhere else to gain experience with the minor-league season canceled.
Giving Taveras regular at-bats could serve the Rangers will this season as well as 2021.
Wild side
The good news for Jordan Lyles is that the fifth batter he walked in his first start with the Rangers did not score. The problem is that the first four did.
In so doing, Lyles wasted the 2-0 lead the Rangers handed him in the first. It was a gift, with Elvis Andrus safe at third in a rundown with two outs. Todd Frazier followed with a two-run single.
But Lyles walked two in the first and two in the third as the Giants moved into a 4-2 lead. A Giants blunder on the bases helped Lyles out of the fourth, but he was done after 78 pitches.
“That outing, it stinks,” Lyles said. “Walking so many guys, just putting free passes on everyone, just giving way too much respect and not being in zone a little bit better. That’s tough. It’s tough on me, it’s tough on the guys behind me, fans watching the game. I mean, it’s slow. That’s not what I’m about. I like to get it and go. Next outing. I’ll be in zone more.”
Brett Martin entered, and in the sixth one of his two walks turned into a run when Joe Palumbo walked him in.
The Rangers walked 11 total.
Geez.
“We didn’t play real good today,” Woodward said. “It’s frustrating when you have 11 walks and one hit by pitch. Obviously, we are going to have to push that one aside and move on because we are not going to win many games when you walk that many guys.”
