ARLINGTON, Texas — Bruce Bochy tends to speak with conviction. He doesn’t dabble much in exaggeration, and he doesn’t say things just to say them. Maybe that’s the mark of a veteran manager. His three World Series rings and a couple thousand career victories sure help give some credence, too.
So just believe him when he says this.
“This was one of our better wins,” Bochy said. “I’ll say, since opening day.”
A lot’s happened since opening day, so a brief refresher: the Rangers overcame a short debut from Jacob deGrom and rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the Philadelphia Phillies. That five-run deficit was the largest the Rangers had overcame all season.
Until Sunday.
The Rangers, despite trailing by six runs after two-and-a-half innings, came back to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 11-7 at Globe Life Field. Much like that opening day win, starter Jon Gray was knocked around and knocked out early. The Rangers’ offense — which had averaged just 3.7 runs in the first six games of the home stand — broke back out in a big way. The bullpen organized a masterclass in giving-your-team-a-chance. Texas staved off a third-straight series loss and will now head to Chicago with some positive momentum.
Yeah, it was a big one. And quite a few things had to go right to pull it off. Quite a few things did.
First, those bats. The Rangers hit just 9 for 53 with runners in scoring position in the first six games of the home stand. They hit 5 for 12 in those situations Saturday.
They went, in order, like this:
— Josh Jung hit a RBI single that scored Nathaniel Lowe, Texas’ first run of the game, from second base in the third inning.
— In the fourth, with Ezequiel Duran on second and Leody Taveras on first, Corey Seager crushed a two-run double to cut Toronto’s lead to two.
— The third one: Adolis Garcia drove Seager in from second with a single two at-bats later to make it a one-run game.
— After Jonah Heim tied the game with a leadoff home run in the fifth, Mitch Garver walked, Duran singled and Leody Taveras followed with the team’s fourth hit with runners in scoring position: a single up the middle which scored Garver and gave the Rangers a 6-5 lead.
— A Seager double scored Marcus Semien, who also doubled, to make it 11-7 in the seventh inning for RISP hit No. 5.
“A game like this can be a character builder, a confidence builder with runners in scoring position, things like that,” Bochy said. “Loosen them up. More than anything, just don’t think that you have to be the guy.”
Especially with this lineup. Every starter reached base at least once. Seager finished with four hits and three RBIs. Duran and Taveras — the Rangers’ No. 8 and 9 hitters — combined for seven hits and five runs. Both are batting better than .300.
That’s a lot of guys, even all the way at the bottom.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Taveras said. “It’s fun because you know you’ve got those two guys [Semien and Seager at the top of the lineup] who can come back and score you.”
Taveras hit a two-run home run in the seventh that gave Texas a 10-7 lead, and its 17th game this season in which the team has scored double-digit runs. Of his career-high eight home runs this year, six have come in June.
“I have been using more of my legs,” Taveras said. “But really just trying to get a good pitch, give myself a chance to hit the ball hard.”
Gray — whose last turn in the rotation was skipped due to a blister — lasted just two and one-third innings, allowed a season-high six earned runs on six hits, three walks and a hit batter. He loaded the bases in the first and second innings and gave up back-to-back singles in the third before Bochy replaced him with John King.
It was Gray’s second-shortest start of the season; he pitched two innings against the Houston Astros in April and was pulled after he was hit by a comebacker.
“Not great,” Gray said. “It was a mess. I got picked up by the team today, big time.”
Big time indeed. King, whose often pitched in a mop-up role this season, threw 3.1 innings of no-hit, one-run ball. Grant Anderson followed with 1.1 scoreless innings; Jose Leclerc (in the eighth) and Craig Barlow (in the ninth) each pitched scoreless frames.
“[The comeback win] doesn’t happen without John King,” Bochy said.
Or Taveras, Duran, Seager and just about everyone else. It sure did feel a lot like opening day. It felt a lot like May, when the Rangers were on that historic pace.
It felt like, the Rangers will hope, the type of win that can ensure some bigger ones down the line.
“That gave us the confidence to come back and do our best down there in Chicago,” Taveras said.
