The Texas Rangers needed a spark. Leody Taveras provided it with his glove and legs.
My son will know someday that Chadwick Boseman was the actor who portrayed Jackie Robinson, whose story my son needs to know but maybe not now in the detail and with the language 42 provides.
For now, all my son knows is that Boseman portrayed Black Panther.
Instead of watching the Texas Rangers on Friday night, the family was watching a show called The One and Only Ivan about the time news broke that Boseman, 43, had lost his quiet battle with colon cancer.
The One and Only Ivan apparently was a real tear-jerker. The wife and I are going to let our son recover from that before telling him that Black Panther has passed, on the day MLB celebrated Robinson.
Here’s some Rangers Reaction from a 6-2 victory.
Leody dazzles
For anyone who wasn’t quite sold on the upgrade Leody Taveras gives the Rangers in center field should be now.
Taveras gave the Rangers a chance against MLB’s top team by leaping to rob Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner of a three-run homer in the third inning. Turner’s drive was headed into the Dodgers’ bullpen, but Taveras glided over and timed his leap perfectly.
The play rates as his best so far, but he has made other plays look easy that would not have been for an inexperienced center fielder like Nick Solak.
Just wait until a runner decides to test Taveras’ arm.
“You see what he’s done in center field,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. “I think Turner’s ball ends up going out of the ballpark. Maybe by not much, but he kept that ball in the ballpark. He’s already made a bunch of plays out there. He’s an above-average, elite center fielder, in my opinion.”
Taveras also gave the Rangers a third-inning spark at the plate. He legged out a slow chopper to second base, then stole second base, and scored the game’s first run on a Shin-Soo Choo double.
Taveras has work to do offensively, to be sure, but has the kind of speed where he’ll race to hits to keep himself out of prolonged slumps. A switch-hitter, he’s better and has more power on the left side.
There’s isn’t much left to do defensively, though he isn’t going to catch them all. He just missed a drive from Corey Seager in the seventh inning, hit with a 109-mph exit velocity, that would have been the final out but went for an RBI double. Turner followed with an RBI single to erase the Rangers’ 2-0 lead.
Taveras’ defense will be tested each time he plays at a visiting ballpark. He’s only played in Globe Life Field, so only 29 more to go.
Something tells me he’s going to get the chance to play in all of them.
Minor’s best
The Dodgers’ two-run seventh inning against Joely Rodriguez spoiled Mike Minor’s bid for his first win of the season, but his six scoreless innings marked his best outing and his first quality start.
Minor allowed four hits and walked three. The first two Dodgers hitters, Mookie Betts and Seager, collected singles to start the game, and Minor needed Taveras’ robbery act in the third.
Hey, we can all use a little help sometimes.
“It looked like LT was just kind of back there and was going to catch the ball, and the next thing I know I saw him jumping up at the wall to catch it,” Minor said. “It was definitely a good play. He’s really athletic. He belongs here.”
Minor continues to pitch without the velocity he had last season, topping out at 93 mph. But his changeup has been more effective, and he threw it 30 times in 93 pitches (32 percent).
Despite what many will say, velocity isn’t everything. Minor’s changeup has been his best pitch throughout his career and is good enough to keep hitters off-balance even with a smaller velocity difference from his fastball.
“Where he put it was key,” Woodward said. “He threw the ball well tonight. He’s got a pretty elite fastball at the top of the zone.”
Does Minor want that velocity back? Sure. Can he be a quality pitcher the rest of the season if it doesn’t come back?
He answered that Friday.
“I will take it,” Minor said. “I don’t think I threw too well. I kept them off-balance. I made some good pitches with runners on. It can always be better.”
Guzman, please?
Danny Santana landed back on the injured list with a sprained right elbow, which doesn’t sound very good. Maybe he can hit again once off the IL, as Shohei Ohtani is doing, but Santana might not play the field again.
He had been playing first base, so the Rangers recalled Ronald Guzman from the alternate camp. Maybe they didn’t get the word on Santana’s elbow soon enough to start Guzman, as Derek Dietrich started, but Guzman needs to play the rest of the season when the choice is between him and Dietrich.
Guzman is a defensive upgrade, and defense at first base has been iffy at times this season. Dietrich’s bat had gone cold until he homered to start the seventh to jump-start a four-run rally and put the Rangers back into the lead.
But if he’s not going to hit, he doesn’t have a ton of value.
Maybe Guzman won’t hit either, which his numbers suggest, but he has more of a future with the Rangers than Dietrich and needs to test out his swing changes in a game setting.
The problem for Guzman is that shortstop Elvis Andrus can come off the IL on Sunday, which would give Woodward the flexibility to move Isiah Kiner-Falefa back to third and Todd Frazier to first.
Guzman could be headed right back to the alternate camp.
Solak played second base on Friday as Rougned Odor missed a third straight game with an eye infection. Solak and Choo each had two hits, including a double, and two RBIs.
This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 11:17 PM.
