A potent slugging offense. Developmental milestones from young talent. Bounceback performances from struggling players showing what they are capable of at their best. Saturday’s win, which clinched the Rangers’ first series win in more than two weeks, featured everything that had often been missing during rough stretches like they’ve gone through lately.
“This was a really fun, really cool outing — a fun game overall,” rookie righty Jack Leiter said after he tossed seven scoreless innings and struck out a career-high 10 in the most authoritative start of his Major League career.
Leiter allowed only two hits, both singles, and walked none — only the third time he’s gone without issuing a base on balls in 23 starts this season.
“You learn from all of them,” Leiter said of his 29 career MLB starts, “and I think I definitely learned something about myself from this one. [I] was able to find that mental groove of just locking on the target and executing the pitch, one at a time. Just an exciting win overall. I think it’s great for our team to see the offense explode like that.”
“Explode” was an apt word choice. The Rangers mashed three two-run home runs, all particularly significant given who hit them: Cody Freeman in the second inning, Josh Jung in the third and Adolis García in the fifth. Freeman’s was a milestone — his first MLB homer, a no-doubter to left that put Texas up 2-0.
After a jubilant trot around the bases and high-fives from teammates, Freeman disappeared from the dugout for a moment.
“I just went in the hallway and soaked it in a little bit,” Freeman said. “A couple of the coaches [came] in the cages, gave hugs, pounds, and I just soaked that moment in.”
Jung and García have hit plenty of big league homers, but it had been a while for both. Jung broke a 14-game homerless streak in which he slashed just .116/.156/.163; and García’s blast came in his first game after being activated from the 10-day injured list. García had just one homer in his previous 50 at-bats when he went on the IL with an ankle sprain on Aug. 13.
Manager Bruce Bochy’s decision to use Wyatt Langford and Ezequiel Duran, who have both been on hot streaks, in the top two spots also paid off. Langford doubled twice and Duran drove in three runs, two on a fourth-inning double that gave Texas a comfortable 7-0 lead.
“They really have been seeing the ball well, good at-bats, good discipline at the plate, getting big hits,” Bochy said of the pair. “I’m really, really happy for Zeke. It’s been a tough go for him, where most of the season, through the first half, he wasn’t getting consistent playing time. And since his playing time has been ramped up, he’s getting his timing, using the whole field.
“Wyatt, we’ve talked about him enough, what a great ballplayer he is. He is just playing so well on both sides and running the bases so well. It’s good to have him swinging the way he is.”
After the barrage of big hits put the Rangers ahead, saddling Cleveland starter Logan Allen with nine earned runs in five innings, all eyes were on Leiter. He had retired the first six batters of the game in order; and with a growing lead to begin the third inning, he continued to attack hitters the rest of his outing. Both of the hits he surrendered were ordinary singles. He retired the last 10 batters he faced, and 21 out of 23 overall.
“It should remind him how good he is and how good he can be,” Bochy said. “His biggest problem at times has been when he’s walked guys and lost his command a little bit. But he wasn’t missing by much when he was missing tonight. Really locked in … really good pace, good rhythm. You could see the confidence is growing with him in the fact that he was just locating so well on all four pitches.”
The opposing skipper, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, concurred with Bochy’s assessment of the 2021 No. 2 overall Draft pick from Vanderbilt.
“The fastball was electric,” Vogt said. “He was laying in the curveball, the slider, the changeup. He kind of had everything working tonight. I thought he just got us on our heels right away.”
