Rodriguez plays hero as Rangers win, avoid 100-loss season

Roman Mendez was struggling with his control in a big spot Monday night.

The game was on the line, and the Texas Rangers’ rookie was in need of a deep breath and a calming word or two.

Neither pitching coach Mike Maddux nor interim manager Tim Bogar budged from the bench. Instead, Mendez was guided back to the strike zone by Guilder Rodriguez, who, like the veteran that he is, came to the mound with just the right words.

Three pitches later, the eighth inning was over with the Rangers clinging to a slim lead.

An inning later, they had defeated the Houston Astros 4-3, and Rodriguez, who had delivered the game-winning run in addition to the game-saving pep talk, was the hero of a major league game for the first time in his long journey through professional baseball.

The rookie infielder, who started 1,095 games in the minors before his promotion earlier this month, also collected the first two hits of his career as his father watched and wept from the stands.

The best thing that happened for the Rangers as they build toward 2015 was the way Derek Holland dealt with mound adversity for the first time this season, keeping things together and keeping his team in the game.

But the undisputed best thing that happened during their victory, which ensured they will not lose 100 times in this lousy season, is another chapter in the feel-good story of Rodriguez.

“This is one of the best moments in my life tonight,” Rodriguez said. “This is my second-best moment after seeing my two daughters born.”

Rodriguez, with his father in town from Venezuela to watch the second start of his big league career after 13 seasons in the minors, singled in the third for his first hit in seven big league at-bats and later scored on a bases-loaded triple by Rougned Odor for a 3-0 lead.

The TV cameras panned to Rodriguez’s father, who embraced his wife and shed tears of joy after the looper into left.

“The only word is special,” Bogar said. “When he got his first hit, it was hard not to cry when you saw his dad.”

Rodriguez committed an error at third base in the Astros’ two-run sixth, which allowed them to tie the game, but he had an answer in the seventh after an intentional walk to Robinson Chirinos with two outs.

Rodriguez was facing Astros starter Nick Tropeano, and he knew him well from the past few seasons in the minor leagues. Rodriguez laced a line drive that popped out of the glove of a leaping Jonathan Villar at shortstop and into left field, which allowed Jake Smolinski to scramble home with the go-ahead run.

“I knew how he throws, and it made me more confident at home plate,” Rodriguez said.

But he had one more contribution to make with two outs in the eighth and Robbie Grossman at second base as the potential tying run. Mendez had just bounced a pitch to Jake Marisnick to fall behind 2-1 in the count, so Rodriguez jogged to the mound.

“He said, ‘Don’t think about the guy at second. Just pitch. You’ve got two outs,’ ” said Mendez, who had been visited at the mound by Rodriguez in the minors. “He helped me a lot in Double A. When I got too quick, he says to slow down and make your pitch.”

Mendez disposed of Marisnick three pitches later, and Neftali Feliz stranded the tying run at second base in the ninth to seal the Rangers’ ninth win in their past 10 games.

The worst the Rangers can do this season is finish with 99 losses.

“It puts a big smile on my face just to know that there’s no three digits in our loss column,” Bogar said. “We know as an organization that we’re not a team that’s a 100-loss team.”

The Rangers can thank Rodriguez, who enjoyed the greatest day of his long baseball career.

“The only word is special,” Bogar said.

This story was originally published September 22, 2014 at 11:19 PM with the headline "Rodriguez plays hero as Rangers win, avoid 100-loss season."