ANAHEIM — Yes, there will be win streaks. There will be offensive onslaughts reminiscent of last year’s title-winning team. There will be moonshot home runs from existing stars and those in the making. There will be gritty starts and grittier bailouts.
There will be signs that these Texas Rangers — in the midst of a now-or-never run — can catch fire at the right time. There will also be instances that suggest when things are going good, fortune favors those who ride the turning tide.
Like, for example, in the Rangers’ 9-4 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday at Angels Stadium when Los Angeles starter Davis Daniel lost his balance on the mound, skipped a pitch just feet in front of him and walked in the game-tying run that kickstarted a breakaway five-run fourth inning.
When things go well, they can seem to go real well. The balked-in run — which scored after rookie Wyatt Langford doubled, took third base on an Adolis Garcia single and scored on Daniel’s miscue — was fortunate.
They forced everything else. Luck or no luck, they recognize that they’ll need to do more of that with a five-and-a-half game deficit in the American League West.
“I think it’s a matter of time with this offense,” said first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, who hit three singles. “We’re poised to make some things happen, so nobody in here is going to be surprised if we bust out a bunch of wins in a row.”
The Rangers led the first inning off with a single from Marcus Semien (2 for 4 with 2 RBIs) and a two-run home run from Corey Seager, who walloped a Daniels fastball 457 feet into center field for the second-longest home run of his career and his longest as a Ranger. They scored five times in the fourth — one on Langford’s jaunt, two on an up-the-middle single from Nathaniel Lowe in the next at-bat, one on a single from Leody Taveras and another on a 104.7 mph rip from Semien — to break the game open.
Corey Seager DEMOLISHES a ball 4️⃣5️⃣7️⃣ feet for his longest home run as a Ranger and second longest of his career 🤯#StraightUpTx | @Rangers pic.twitter.com/ixojcW3ZKs
— SportsDay Rangers (@dmn_rangers) July 9, 2024
They added two more runs in the seventh when Langford, who’s slashed .385/.467/.615 in July after he won the AL Rookie of the Month honor in June, drilled a two-run home run into left field for his fifth of the season.
“This kid, he’s going to have some kind of career,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “He’s just getting better and better.”
The same can be said for Texas’ collective offense, which has outscored its opponents 29-6 in its last four games. Semien’s two-hit day was his first since June 15. Seager’s home run and a seventh-inning double left his bat at 106.9 and 101.5 mph and were his 19th and 20th hits in his last 13 games. Lowe has slashed .339/.361/.559 in his last 15 games, while Jonah Heim (.306/.364/.490 in his last 15) and Leody Taveras (.378/.453/.422) have rediscovered their form after underwhelming beginnings to the season.
“They all had nice years last year,” Bochy said of the Lowe, Heim and Taveras trio. “That’s why I said you have to be encouraged with what’s going on now.”
Texas starting pitcher Jon Gray pitched five innings of three-run ball. He allowed four consecutive hits in the second inning — one of which was a two-run triple from Mickey Moniak — to put the Rangers in a 3-2 hole, but retired 10 of the last 12 batters he faced while the Rangers’ offense cooked. José Ureña replaced Gray with a runner on first in the sixth inning and went groundout-strikeout-strikeout to strand him, but loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh.
Right-hander David Robertson entered and promptly struck Kevin Pillar out on six pitches to end the inning. Opponents have hit just .160 against Robertson with runners on base this season, which is the 20th-best mark in baseball and the lowest he’s held batters to in those situations since 2011.
“You look at his age,” Bochy said of the 39-year-old. “I told him a couple of days ago, it’s impressive with the stuff he still has.”
Robertson has aged gracefully. The Rangers might be pulling a page from his book as the season reaches its midway point.
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