Rangers Take Series Opener from White Sox

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

August 1, 2023

Rangers 2, White Sox 0

ARLINGTON, Tex. (Aug 1) — The Texas Rangers beat Chicago White Sox 2–0 on Tuesday evening at Globe Life Field. Mitch Garver and Adolis Garcia provided all the offense with two solo home runs. The Rangers have the opportunity to make it two in a row against the White Sox on Wednesday evening. First pitch for the second game in this series is scheduled for 7:05 pm Central. It will be a battle of righties on the mound. Dylan Cease (4–4, 4.15 ERA) will start for the White Sox. The Rangers will send Dane Dunning (8–4, 3.28) to the mound in the middle game.

Garver Breaks the Seal

Neither team could put a single run on the board for the first five innings. The crowd of 28,988 was getting restless at this point. Garver put a stop to that in the top of the sixth, giving the Rangers a 1–0 lead on a solo shot to center on the first pitch of the at-bat. The Rangers stretched it to 2–0 in the bottom of the seventh on a solo homer to left by Garcia, his 26th of the year. This was a much-needed win for the Rangers in a game that lasted one hour and 58 minutes, as they have seen their lead in the AL West dwindle to a half a game over the Houston Astros.

Heaney Goes Six

Rangers left-hander Andrew Heaney allowed two hits, both singles, and struck out a season-high 11 batters over six scoreless innings to earn the win. His line in the series opener was 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K, 80 pitches/55 strikes. Tuesday marked his 19th career double-digit strikeout game and his second this season. He also had 10 whiffs on April 10 against the Kansas City Royals.

Heaney became the third pitcher in Rangers history to allow two or fewer hits and strike out 11+ batters, joining Yu Darvish on April 2, 2013 against the Houston Astros. Josh Sborz and Aroldis Chapman each pitched a scoreless inning, handing it over to Will Smith to pitch the ninth. Smith earned his 18th save of the year.

White Sox starter Jesse Scholtens shouldered the loss in his 11th appearance this season. It was his third start. His line on the evening was 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R-ER, 1 BB, 6 K. The six innings pitched marked the longest start of his career. His lone blemish came on Garver’s solo home run in the fourth inning. The Rangers’ second run was given up by righty Declan Cronin.

Postgame Comments

A very relaxed Bruce Bochy held court after the game. Regarding Heaney’s start, he said, “It was just a great effort. He really was on top of his game. Andrew had a good fastball with some good life on it, and that was one of the things that allowed him to go as long as he did tonight. He had good command and worked the edges well. Sborzy (Josh Sborz) and Chappy (Aroldis Chapman) did great for us, too. Chappy was a little under the weather, but he put up a much-needed zero. We didn’t have a lot of offense. You have the two homers by Mitch (Garver) and Doli (Adolis Garcia). So, we really needed our pitchers tonight.”