The Rangers finally gave themselves a clean night at the plate on Tuesday, and now they have to make it matter.
Texas rolled past Seattle 10-5 at T-Mobile Park, leaning on home runs from Corey Seager, Wyatt Langford and Danny Jansen while Cal Quantrill turned in another solid outing. Quantrill worked six innings, allowed five hits and three runs, and Robert Garcia - recently activated - returned to a big league mound for the first time since April with a perfect inning.
Even with the win, the standings didn’t exactly open up for Texas. The Astros held onto their two-game lead in the AL West after beating the Phillies, while the Guardians remained in the final AL wild card spot, with the Blue Jays right behind them. The Rangers are still 1.5 games out of the last wild card berth, which leaves little room for anything but a run.
That’s the backdrop for Wednesday’s matchup, another 3:10 p.m. central first pitch against the Mariners. The midweek start time is a little out of the ordinary, but it gives Texas a chance to settle into a rhythm before opening a three-game series with Arizona on Friday.
It’s also a left-on-left matchup, with Cody Bradford starting for Texas and rookie Kade Anderson getting the ball for Seattle. That means the Rangers’ lineup should look noticeably different from the one they used Tuesday night.
Seager keeps giving Texas the kind of middle-order punch it badly needs. His homer on Tuesday was his third in the last seven games, and during that stretch he’s hitting .286/.323/.679. For the season, he’s batting .227 with 16 home runs and 39 RBI.
Langford’s blast was just as timely. He has been stuck in a rough stretch, hitting only .160 over his last seven games, and Tuesday’s homer was his first in that span. It may have been the kind of swing that gets him moving again.
Cody Freeman is another name to watch in the lineup shuffle. He has been the Rangers’ preferred third baseman against left-handed pitching, with Ezequiel Duran sliding to center field. But Freeman has gone just .105 over his last seven games, and with Josh Jung’s return imminent, these could be his final at-bats with the major league club this season.
Wednesday: 3:10 p.m. - TV: Rangers: Rangers Sports Network, can be streamed on BZZR; Mariners: Mariners.TV; Radio: Rangers: KRLD 1080, KFLC 1270; Mariners: Seattle Sports (710 AM)
Wednesday: Rangers LHP Cody Bradford (0-4, 4.45) vs. Mariners LHP Kade Anderson (0-1, 5.40)
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