Rangers 10, White Sox 2
ARLINGTON, Tex. (Jul 24) — The Texas Rangers had their way with the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday, beating them, 10–2. Home runs by Corey Seager, Robbie Grossman, and Nathaniel Lowe helped nail down the series win over the South-siders. The Rangers will try for the four-game sweep in a businessperson’s special on Thursday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 pm Central at Globe Life Field. Right-hander Jonathan Cannon (1–4, 4.58 ERA) will get the ball for the White Sox, while the Rangers will send Max Scherzer (1–3, 3.99 ERA) to the mound in the series finale.
Eager Seager
The Rangers scored right away in the bottom of the first off White Sox righty Chris Flexen. Marcus Semien flied to left to lead things off, bringing Seager to the plate. On a 1–1 fastball, he gave the Rangers a 1–0 lead with his 19th homer of the season, a solo shot that landed 10 rows deep in right.
The White Sox tied it in the top of the second against Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi. Andrew Vaughn led off with a single to left. Eloy Jimenez moved him over to second with a 2–3 groundout. After Brooks Baldwin struck out swinging, Nicky Lopez plated Vaughn with a sharp single to right.
More Insurance
The White Sox grabbed a 2–1 lead in the top of the third. Chuckie Robinson grounded to short to lead off the inning. On deck was Luis Robert Jr., who deposited one into the seats in left for his 12th homer of the season.
The score remained 2–1 until the bottom of the fifth. Adolis Garcia tied it 2–2 with a double to center that scored Corey Seager, who reached on a double to right two batters prior. This brought White Sox manager Pedro Grifol out to the mound to bring in lefty Sammy Peralta. Up next was Lowe, who singled to center to bring Garcia home, giving the Rangers a 3–2 lead.
Breaking it Open
They extended it to 4–2 in the bottom of the sixth. Two batters into the frame, Semien drew a free pass. Seager advanced him to third with a single to the track in right. A great throw by White Sox outfielder Tommy Pham held the runners at the corners. On deck was Josh Smith, who scored Semien with a single to center.
The Rangers stretched the lead to 6–2 in the bottom of the eighth off reliever Jared Shuster. Grossman led off the inning with a home run to left-center. Grossman had entered the game in the bottom of the sixth as a pinch-hitter for Rangers DH Travis Jankowski. Leody Taveras, Semien, and Seager followed with three consecutive singles. Smith drove in Taveras with a sacrifice fly to right. On deck was Wyatt Langford, who drew a walk. Semien scored on a 6–4 force play grounded into by Garcia. Up next was Lowe, who really made things interesting with a three-run blast to deep center to give the Rangers a commanding 10–2 lead.
What Went Right for the Rangers
Games in which you score 10 runs don’t happen every night. When they do happen, however, you take it and run. The Rangers used power, speed, and pitching to win this one in front of a crowd of 36,989 screaming fans. It’s always nice when a win from the previous night spills over into the next game. In this case, it spilled over from the previous three games, it seemed like. The Rangers will try to bottle that up heading into Thursday’s series finale.
What Went Wrong for the Rangers
The only road blocks that the Rangers encountered were the RBI base hit by Lopez in the top of the second, and the home run by Robert Jr. in the top of the third.
Eovaldi Tosses Seven
Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi struck out a season-high 10 batters over seven innings to earn the win on Wednesday. His record improves to 7–4 with an ERA of 3.31. He had a line of 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R-ER, 0 BB, 10 K, 1 HR, 98 pitches/66 strikes. It was the third double-digit strikeout game by a Ranger this season. The last one was by Andrew Heaney on June 30 against the Baltimore Orioles. Additionally, it was Eovaldi’s first since May 11, 2023 against the Oakland Athletics, when he had a career-high 12. Wednesday was also his team-leading ninth quality start and sixth ultra-quality start of the campaign.
Eovaldi is 3–1 with a 3.00 ERA over five starts in July with 30 strikeouts, no walks and a .203 opp. BA. According to Stathead, he is the first Ranger ever to record 30 or more strikeouts and zero walks over a span of five outings. The last major league pitcher to pull the trick was Kevin Gausman of the Toronto Blue Jays on April 9 to May 1, 2022 (41 K/0 BB). Eovaldi has faced 141 batters without a walk since issuing his last free pass to Willy Adames on June 26 against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Flexen’s Evening
White Sox starter Chris Flexen made his 100th career start and 20th start of the season on Wednesday. He limited the Rangers to one run over his first four frames but departed with two outs in the fifth after allowing a pair of doubles and the tying run to score. Flexen was charged with the go-ahead run after Lowe singled off Peralta, driving in García and putting Flexen in line for the loss. His record sits at 2–10 with an ERA of 5.25. He is now 0–7 with a 5.73 ERA over his last 13 starts, signifying the second-longest losing streak of his career. The White Sox are 2–20 in his 22 outings this season, including losses in 14 straight.
Getting Closer
The Rangers are currently three games behind the Houston Astros for first place in the AL West. They’re also two back of the Seattle Mariners in second place and 5 1/2 back of the last Wild Card spot. The trade deadline is fast approaching and hangs over a clubhouse that is trying not to think about how it could be different in six days.
Bochy’s Postgame Comments
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy was feeling nostalgic after the game as the night reminded him of the 2023 season. “There’s no getting around it, for us to have success, those are our guys and it’s gonna be important that everybody does something to contribute, but especially your core guys like (Adolis),” said Bochy. “You need them to swing the bat like they can and tonight was a great sign.”
“Well, it’s what we saw a lot of in 2023,” Bochy remarked. “Tonight, it was more who we are. We’ve been playing a lot of close games and we’ve been missing out on the occasional big hit there but we’ve been playing well in these tight games, so it’s good to see these guys break out and have success. We have a lot of baseball left here, and I just feel so encouraged.”
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Eovaldi’s Postgame Comments
After Bochy’s exit, Eovaldi emerged from the clubhouse to give his thoughts on the change in atmosphere after the recent string of wins. “The energy in the clubhouse is definitely a lot better than it has been,” Eovaldi said. “It doesn’t matter who you’re playing out there, when you win, you win. There’s a lot of energy in the dugout now and that’s what I feel like we were missing throughout the season.”
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