ARLINGTON, Texas — Credit the Rangers with serving up a satisfying appetizer on Sunday afternoon with a 7-1 win over the Boston Red Sox – in contrast to their performances in the series’ two previous games – before the main course of a historic evening of dueling Game 7s for the area’s “winter” sports teams.
“That was fun,” manager Chris Woodward understated. Here’s why:
— A hitting attack that produced more than three runs only once in the six previous games hit four home runs – two each by Adolis Garcia and Kole Calhoun. Such a two-man Texas power display hasn’t been seen since Robinson Chirinos and Joey Gallo each went deep twice against Kansas City in April 2017.
— Minutes before Garcia’s first shot – a no-doubt, opposite-field three-run blast deep into the home bullpen that broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth – he made a sprinting, backhand catch just short of the wall in dead center.
— Martin Perez delivered his fifth consecutive overpowering start, allowing only one run in six innings. The 0.82 ERA over those starts has dropped his season figure to 2.01, fourth among American League qualifiers.
— Kole Calhoun was the day’s first multi-homer slugger of the day, with solo shots in the fifth – the Rangers’ first hit of the game- and the sixth. It was Calhoun’s eighth two-homer game, first since September 2020.
— Don’t leave out Marcus Semien. He started the Rangers’ four-run rally in the sixth with a hustle double into the left-field corner that was his first hit since last Sunday; it raised his batting average to .159. There were 27 at-bats in between, though the former MVP contender might not have been counting.
The victory salvaged the finale of the three-game series against a Red Sox team that, sitting last in the AL East, came to Texas struggling. The absence of a starting pitcher helped the Rangers’ cause. Boston went into play with the fourth highest bullpen ERA in the league and without a true closer, though none was called on over the weekend with the Red Sox winning 7-1 on Friday and 11-3 on Saturday.
After Garcia looked like a wide receiver on a post pattern in the top of the sixth, he told Perez he’d help the Rangers win. It was clear to Garcia within seconds that the fly ball would leave the yard; he walked a few steps down the line, flipped his bat, pointed to Perez in the dugout and patted his chest.
Garcia’s fourth career multi-homer game, first since last September, came after he was given Saturday off – his first off day this season- while hitting .195 with no RBIs in his previous nine games. He said the conversations with Woodward and the coaches focused on returning to the aggression at the plate that he displayed last year as the club’s player of the year.
Garcia “literally raised the roof the building with the way he plays the game,” Woodward said. “We know how special he is.”
Perez went 10-13 with a 4.65 ERA the last two seasons for Boston after leaving Texas for Minnesota in free agency after the 2018 season. He said he didn’t focus on facing former teammates, many of whom he greeted on the field before Friday’s game.
“When you have extra motivation, you try to do too much,” Perez said. “Try to be perfect.”
Woodward said the team’s trust factor in Perez is “off the chart.”
“We know we have our best pitcher on the mound,” he said. “He’s pitching like one of the best in baseball.”
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