Rangers Sweep Rockies in Blowout

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

May 21, 2023

Rangers 13, Rockies 3

ARLINGTON, Tex. (May 21) – The Texas Rangers completed the three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies on Sunday, by winning, 13–3. One of the highlights of the game was Corey Seager‘s second home run in as many days. With this sweep under their belts, the Rangers now head on a nine-game road trip. They begin a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday at PNC Park at 5:35 pm Central. Righty Luis Ortiz (0–2, 5.63 ERA) will get the starting nod for the Pirates. The Rangers will counter with fellow righty Dane Dunning (4–0, 1.69 ERA)

Another Offensive Explosion for Rangers

Things stayed quiet until the bottom of the second. Josh Jung got the Rangers on the board with a solo shot to left-center, his ninth home run of the season. Four batters later, Ezequiel Duran and Leody Taveras both scored on a double to left by Marcus Semien. On deck was Corey Seager, who quickly made it 5–0 Rangers with a two-run homer to right-center. To go along with their five-run second inning, the Rangers put up a six-run fifth inning as well. Adolis Garcia led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Rockies reliever Matt Carasiti. Garcia scored along with Nathaniel Lowe, who had singled earlier in the frame, on a single to center by Jonah Heim. Later in the inning, Taveraz brought home Garcia, Jung, and Heim with a double hit deep to left.

At this point, the lineup flipped over, bringing Marcus Semien to the plate. He drove in Taveras with a single to left, stretching the Rangers’ lead over the Rockies to 10–0. Next up was Seager, who drove in Semien on a single to left for the Rangers’ 11th run of the afternoon. Josh H. Smith gave them their 12th run on a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth. They stretched it to 13–3 on a sacrifice fly by Bubba Thompson that scored Seager. The Rockies, meanwhile, scored their first run of the game in the top of the sixth. Mike Moustakas reached on a fielder’s choice that brought in Ryan McMahon. They didn’t score again until the top of the eighth, when Randal Grichuk crossed the plate on a double to left by Brenton Doyle. Their final run came on a wild pitch by Jose Leclerc that plated Moustakas.

Pitching Notes

Rangers lefty Andrew Heaney did not allow an earned run over six frames to earn his third win of the season (W, 6 IP, 6 H, 1 R-0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 95 pitches/63 strikes). He loaded the bases with none out in the top of the second (1B-BB-1B) but escaped the jam unscathed after retiring the next two batters he faced via strikeout and double-play groundout (1-2-3).

Heaney has gone 1–1 with a 1.93 ERA (4 ER, 18 2/3 IP) over his last three starts, cutting his season ERA from 5.52 to 4.13. Rockies right-hander Connor Seabold took the loss on Sunday (3 2/3 IP, 5 R-ER). He is 0–1 with an ERA of 10.13 (9 ER, 8 IP) in his last two starts after going 1–0, 3.60 (4 ER, 10 IP) in two starts to open the month after being moved to the rotation.

Postgame Comments

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy spoke with the media after the game and was asked what he saw collectively from his offense on Sunday. He said, “It was everybody today. You know the front end of this order and how good they are. But the back end has just done a great job. We scored five in the second inning. You look at (Ezequiel) Duran when drew that two-out walk, and that was one of the little things that helped us score five runs in the inning. I love watching these guys, especially when they’re having great at-bats like they did today.”

Rangers starter Andrew Heaney also spoke with the media after the game. He was asked what he felt was working for him in his start. He replied, “I was just mixing up my pitches. They’re a pretty aggressive team. I did a good job of not falling into too many patterns. I had a pretty good changeup, and I threw that quite a few times.”