Adolis Garcia isn’t only Texas Rangers player to hit the right chord the past week
Adolis Garcia has the Texas Rangers dreaming.
He has the body and talent of a superstar, and for the past nine games he’s been the Rangers’ superstar.
He has connected for three homers, the first three of his career, and they have all give the Rangers a lead. He’s driven in eight runs. He has made two brilliant plays defensively.
On top of that, he plays with emotion and has brought a spark to a team that had lost four straight before he arrived April 13.
If Garcia can stay consistent, not necessarily this productive every 10 games but a cog in the offense, the Rangers believe he has a chance to be a star.
Amid all the excitement, though, the Rangers understand that he has to prove that what they are seeing is real. It could all go away over his nine games.
They hope not, he hopes not and baseball fans should hope not.
“He’s still got to prove it,” manager Chris Woodward said. “There’s a lot of things he’s going to have to go through and learn, and keep making adjustments and adjust to the league. They’re going to learn him.”
That came after Garcia hit a three-run go-ahead homer in the eighth inning Wednesday at Angel Stadium. It was another big moment for the 28-year-old rookie.
Here’s some Rangers Reaction from a 7-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
Solak’s been good, too
Baseball players, Brock Holt informed Nick Solak, hoist their pant legs above the knee, and Solak, by gum, is a baseball player.
A hard worker, a gamer, a dirtbag, does things the right way.
That’s a baseball player.
Solak obeyed Holt’s fashion tip, and instantly Solak shook off his season-opening slump and starting hitting.
A lot. With power to all fields. Even his outs have been hit hard.
“I’ll take credit for that,” Holt said.
The Rangers are only 19 games into the season, so it’s too early for them to take a victory lap for their decision to part ways with Rougned Odor in favor of Solak.
However, he’s been one of the Rangers’ best players so far this season this season.
He didn’t collect a hit Wednesday, but the second of his two walks jump-started the Rangers’ four-run eighth inning and he scored on the Garcia homer.
Solak made another big contribution defensively, especially in the fourth inning. He had an assist on each out, yet only one of them was routine.
He quickly ran to scoop up a ball that had hit off first baseman Nate Lowe and bounded into foul territory. With the batter, Scott Schebler, headed toward second, Solak fired from near the right-field line to get him at second base.
Two batters later Solak made an easy pickup and throw to get Anthony Benboom at first, and then turned in the most spectacular of the three plays.
Luis Rengifo hit a hard grounder that was headed to right field for a potential RBI single, but Solak stopped it with a dive and made the quick throw to first to end the inning.
Odor was a Gold Glove finalist a few seasons ago, but that was an aberration. Solak might not win any Gold Gloves, but he’s not a butcher out there either.
“He’s put a ton of work in, and it’s showing,” Woodward said. “I see it every day.”
Throw in Solak’s more consistent bat, and he is meeting the Rangers’ expectations when they decided to make him their second baseman.
King has arrived
Left-hander John King has been a starter throughout his college and professional careers, except for his first two tastes of the major leagues. As a routine-oriented guy, he would like a chance to be a starter again.
But don’t get him wrong. He likes coming out of the bullpen, pitching in tight situations at a moment’s notice, and possibly being asked to do it again the next day.
King’s past two appearances have been in big spots, working a scoreless 10th inning Sunday thanks to great defensive plays by Willie Calhoun, Garcia and Jose Trevino. King faced a big situation Wednesday in the seventh inning against Mike Trout.
The Angels had mustered a threat on the strength of two infield singles, the bane of a sinker baller, and a hit batsman to load the bases with two outs for the best player on the planet.
King threw Strike 1, Strike 2, and then a grounder to shortstop to retire Trout and keep the score at 3-1 Angels.
He picked up the win after the Rangers rallied in the eighth.
Suddenly, with Jose Leclerc, Johnathan Hernandez and Matt Bush out, the Rangers need a quality reliever who can work multiple innings ahead of Joely Rodriguez and Ian Kennedy.
Brett Martin is a candidate to do so, and it appears as if King is now, too.
A Maddon vs. Rangers memory
Joe Maddon built his reputation as one of the game’s best managers with the Tampa Bay Rays, and he is forgiven for his inability to get past the Texas Rangers in the division series in 2010 and 2011.
Ron Washington outmanaged him.
But Maddon finally won a World Series with the Chicago Cubs in 2016 before becoming manager of the Angels before last season.
He strode to the Angel Stadium mound Wednesday in the eighth inning, his team up 3-1, to remove a reliever the Rangers couldn’t hit and with their best hitter coming to the plate.
Maddon chose right-hander Mike Mayers to face Joey Gallo, a left-handed hitter. The right-hander on the mound, Chris Rodriguez, had struck out Gallo earlier in the game.
Mayers has reverse splits for his career, meaning he’s been better against lefty hitters than against righties, but Angels lefty Alex Claudio has been much better against lefties.
Alas, Maddon must have had some data that told him Mayers would get Gallo out, and if not Gallo than certainly Garcia.
The decision brought to mind the 2011 American League Division Series, when Maddon said the sole reason the Rays carried lefty J.P. Howell was to get the lefty-hitting Josh Hamilton out in a tight spot.
That spot arrived in the seventh inning. The Rays entered the inning up 1-0, but Adrian Beltre opened with a single and Mike Napoli followed with a homer off David Price.
Price got the next two hitters, but gave up a single to Craig Gentry. After Brandon Gomes walked Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus to load the bases, Maddon brought in Howell to face Hamilton.
Hamilton bounced a single into right field to score Gentry and Kinsler, and the Rangers held on for a 4-3 win. They won the series the next day as Beltre hit three home runs in another 4-3 win.
While the stakes were wildly different then than what went down Wednesday in the Rangers’ 19th game of the season, it was a peculiar move that backfired on Maddon.
