Texas Rangers get first taste of new extra-innings rules. It was tough to swallow.
Everyone knows that Joey Gallo is wildly unique as a hitter.
He reached 100 career home runs before he had 100 singles, and he still has more home runs than singles, 116-111.
He is one of the game’s elite power hitters and the hitter Texas Rangers opponents fear the most, yet he’s never batted higher than .253.
Here’s another accomplishment: Gallo is the first MLB hitter this season to reach five home runs against left-handed pitching.
Gallo is a left-handed hitter.
He took long-haired lefty Matt Strohm deep to start the ninth inning and push the Rangers even in a game they had trailed since the third.
After Rafael Montero worked a scoreless ninth, the Rangers went to extra innings for the first time this season. Under the new rules, a runner starts each extra inning at second base.
The idea was to cut down on the length of games and the time players spend at the ballpark in the COVID-19 era.
This one didn’t go past the 10th.
Here’s some Rangers Reaction from a 6-3 loss to the San Diego Padres.
The 10th
The Rangers loaded the bases with no outs in their half of the 10th inning and were lucky to score only once. They were then unlucky to score only one as Gallo just missed a second home run, which would have been a grand slam.
The Padres had a runner at third with one out in their 10th against Montero, who had yet to work multiple innings this season. He walked Trent Grisham as plate umpire Alfonso Marquez tightened his strike zone. Fernando Tatis Jr. was next, and he also walked to load the bases.
Montero went to a full count against Manny Machado. With nowhere to put him, Montero threw a fastball. Machado, knowing fastball was coming, swatted it for a game-ending grand slam.
It’s not quite that simple, though.
With no outs and side-winding lefty Tim Hill in the game, Rangers manager Chris Woodward sent the right-handed-hitting Rob Refsnyder to the plate in place of the lefty-hitting Shin-Soo Choo.
Choo is a patient hitter with a keen eye and a knack for getting hit by pitches. He also understands situational hitting as well as any hitter on the team, and a flyball would have delivered a Rangers run.
“I do trust Choo against lefties, and it was a tough decision,” Woodward said.
Refsnyder struck out on three pitches.
Danny Santana was next, and he worked a full count before Marquez rung him up on a pitch on the inside corner. Santana, who was called out by Marquez earlier in the game, was ejected for arguing.
Willie Calhoun, another lefty hitter, was next, now with two outs. He rolled one in front of the plate, but reached safely when catcher Austin Hedges couldn’t handle it.
The Rangers took a 3-2 lead, but Calhoun strained his left hamstring legging it out. He’s likely headed for the injured list.
“It doesn’t look great, to be honest with you,” Woodward said.
Yet another lefty hitter, Gallo, followed. Judging by the roar from the Rangers’ dugout, they thought he had connected for a grand slam. Wil Myers, though, caught the ball at the right-field wall.
“When Joey hits one in the sky, it usually goes really far,” right-hander Lance Lynn said. “It just didn’t carry as much as we needed it to.”
Montero was the choice to pitch the 10th, but he was also, curiously, the choice to pitch the ninth. Teams often save their closers on the road for a save situation, but Woodward wanted his best reliever in a tied game in the ninth.
Jonathan Hernandez worked the eighth, but wasn’t available for the ninth because he had thrown two straight days.
“I would hate for my best pitcher not to pitch,” Woodward said. ‘That was the thinking behind it. We will figure it out when we get to the 10th if we can keep them from scoring in the ninth.”
Neither is likely to be available Thursday. Montero logged 42 pitches and might not be available until Saturday.
One more painful nugget: The Rangers have allowed five grand slams this season, including one in each of the past three games. No other MLB team has allowed more than one.
Lynn solid again
Trouble is lurking these days when the Rangers can’t win a Lynn start.
The loss, the Rangers fourth straight, certainly wasn’t his fault.
Lynn allowed solo home runs to Jurickson Profar and Tatis in the third inning as San Diego erased a 1-0 deficit.
That was one homer too many.
“He’s allowed to to give up a couple runs,” Woodward said. “It’s our job to give him some run support.”
Lynn, of course, wasn’t happy to give up any runs. He said a cutter leaked back on Tatis, who didn’t miss it, and he thought he had thrown a pitch that Profar would roll over to second base.
“When you throw seven innings and there’s only two pitches you wish you could have back, you’re OK with it. I wish would not have given up any runs, obviously, but I kept us in the game and we were able to tie in the ninth and have a chance to win the game.”
Lynn allowed only those two runs in seven innings in yet another strong outing to start the 2020 season. He struck out six, giving him 42 in 39 1/3 innings, and didn’t issue a walk. His ERA climbed a quarter-run, all the way up to 1.37.
He’s been that good.
Odor changing minds?
Probably not, or at least not yet, but second baseman Rougned Odor swatted a homer and dropped a bunt hit in his first two at-bats Wednesday to give him a hit in five straight games since he was given a day off to work on his swing.
He was batting .114 at the time, but his average has since climbed to .180. His hits haven’t come on a bunch of soft contact, either.
Two of the six hits in the streak have been home runs. He also had an RBI single and an RBI double.
This has been a very good development, but does anyone other than Rangers personnel and Odor’s family and friends believe this will last?
Hope doesn’t count. All Rangers fans should hope Odor continues to be a productive player, not just this season but for the duration of his contract.
But the evidence, four seasons’ worth, is stacked against him.
