Raise your hand if you thought yesterday’s game was over after the third inning. You’re not alone. Down 5-0 with an offense that doesn’t show much fight, nor the ability to score run in bunches, more the ability to get hits with runners in scoring position, which, when you think about it, are all related maladies.
But a four-run inning can do wonders for sparking a comeback. Two four-run innings, even better.
Martin Perez was not what he had been his previous nine starts. He lacked command and seemed to get rattled by an umpire who was still learning the strike zone.
After three innings, he had given up five earned runs. He lasted five innings. Allowing seven runs, six earned, and a whopping dozen hits.
Good thing was, the five-run deficit was early. White Sox pitcher Lucas Gialito, however, was mowing down Rangers hitters. He struck out eight Rangers through four innings. The Rangers were getting runners on base. They just could do anything about it.
Until the fifth. The first three reached. Corey Seager came up with bases loaded and came inches from a grand slam, settling for a sac fly. So, Adolis Garcia did the next best thing. A three-run homer. Suddenly, the Rangers were back in it, 5-4.
Of course, just as quickly as that, the White Sox come back to pile on two more runs and make it 7-4.
But Texas scored one in the sixth and tied it with two in the seventh off a Kole Calhoun double and a Jonah Heim sac fly. The home crowd was not amused.
They were less amused when, in the top of the tenth inning, the Rangers broke out their second four-run inning when the first five batters got base hits.
Shockingly, it was 11-7. The White Sox tried to crush the Rangers hearts by scoring two themselves and putting the tying run on base. They fell short.
The Rangers kept fighting back. That’s how playoff teams do it. That’s how teams of destiny do it. That was how the Rangers in May were doing it.
These June Rangers could learn a thing from those May Rangers.
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