For the first day, at least, General Manager Chris Young’s decision to send down Willie Calhoun paid dividends. The guy Calhoun was replaced with on the major league roster, Zach Reks, delivered the game-winning dagger.
In a 3-3 tie going into the sixth inning, the Rangers took advantage of yet another error by the Phillies glove-challenged third baseman Alec Bohm to put runners at first and second with two outs.
Reks come in to pinch hit for Eli White and wiped the bases clean with what was essentially a triple that was for some odd reason ruled only a double.
Double, triple, doesn’t really matter. It scored two runs, put the Rangers ahead 5-3, and turned out to be the margin of victory. Marcus Semien’s single drove in Reks from third to make it 6-3 in a game the Rangers would eventually win 6-4.
Reks’s “double” also put the Rangers at 9-for-30 in pinch hitting this season, a nifty .300. That’s sixth best in baseball. And that has been one of the successes of this offense. Coming through in the clutch.
Last night it was Zach Reks.
The fact it came with two outs just made it that much sweeter. It’s going to take contributions up and down the lineup and up and down the roster to help the Rangers claw out of this last place hole they have been stuck in for too many years.
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