CHICAGO – Where to begin? How about at the end.
For the second-straight day, the Rangers went into extra innings with the Chicago White Sox and emerged victorious, winning Sunday’s rubber match 8-6 in 12 innings.
The game ended on a replay.
With one out and one on, Chicago’s Jake Burger hit a warning track flyball that nearly left the yard, but it was caught by Charlie Culberson. Then — without much logical reason — Chicago’s Luis Robert tagged up from second and raced to third. Culberson’s throw one-hopped but was just late. Third baseman Ezequiel Durán applied the tag anyways, catching Robert barely off the bag.
“You just try to keep it as simple as possible,” Culberson, not normally an outfielder, said about his mentality on that play. “Just catch the ball, throw the ball.”
Simple.
The call stood, the fans that hadn’t departed early booed, and the Rangers walked away with their first series win in Chicago since 2014.
“There are so many things that went into that game,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said.
Let’s dive into it:
— Sunday’s pitching matchup looked like a duel between two starters with plus-fastballs. Only one of them made it out of the first.
White Sox starting pitcher Michael Kopech recorded two outs and threw 13 pitches before he left the game with right knee discomfort. Reynaldo López, the opener for Friday’s game, came in and carried the White Sox until the third inning before Johnny Cueto — a starting pitcher — made his second career relief appearance.
Rangers starting pitcher Jon Gray, meanwhile, used his fastball and slider to strike out 10 White Sox batters in six innings. It was the first time all season a single pitcher recorded double-digit strikeouts against Chicago.
It was also Gray’s second start with double-digit strikeouts in his last three. He worked on a new grip to his slider in spring training and he told reporters after the game that his feel for it is getting better.
“I think that’s been a game changer,” said Gray, who allowed one run in the first.
Gray left with a 3-1 lead, thanks to three RBIs from Eli White, who recorded two of them on an early home run. Gray gave the ball to Garrett Richards, who allowed two runs — one earned — to set up a 3-3 tie heading into extra innings. It also setup Durán for what looked to be Sunday’s heroic moment.
— The Rangers called up Durán out of need, but also because of curiosity. They wanted to get a look at the 23-year-old who led all of baseball in doubles.
“It just made sense,” Woodward said on June 4 when Durán was called up. “Whether it is for a short stint or if he lights the world on fire and we make other moves to keep him.”
It looks like Durán came to the big leagues with a torch in hand. On Sunday, he hit a three-run, go-ahead home run in the 11th inning that looked like it would be an eventual game winner.
“I swear this kid doesn’t feel anything,” Woodward said of Durán. “He’s got as slow a heartbeat as I’ve ever seen.”
So far, Durán is showing he’s worth more than a brief look. He’s hitting .313 with an OPS of .864 in 32 at bats.
Josh Smith, also acquired in the Joey Gallo trade, is on the mend and progressing from a shoulder injury that prompted the Durán call up.
Both look like they could be the answer at third base for the Rangers. How the Rangers move forward when everyone is healthy will be a storyline to follow, especially once top prospect Josh Jung returns from his torn labrum, which won’t happen until mid-August at the earliest.
— Durán’s home run, however, wasn’t the game winner. That’s because the White Sox scored three runs to extend the game. Two of those runs came on a triple from Danny Mendick. It was a line drive to left centerfield that trickled away after Culberson and White collided.
White took the worst of the collision. He suffered a wrist injury and looked to be in clear pain when he left the game. The Rangers announced they’d perform x-rays, but had no immediate update after the game.
If White heads to the IL, a candidate to be called up would be former top prospect Leody Taveras, who started hot in Triple-A Round Rock this year, cooled off, but and is now on a five-game hitting streak.
— From a single-game perspective, perhaps the most interesting part of Sunday’s game was the pitcher who shut the door.
The Rangers have moved Left-handed pitcher Kolby Allard up and down from the big leagues to the minors a lot this season. He’s been the go-to reserve guy in the bullpen if the Rangers needed a pitcher to eat innings. He hadn’t pitched in the majors since May 11 and not overall since May 29 until he was called upon in an 8-6 game in the 12th inning.
Allard started the inning by striking out White Sox slugger José Abreu, who usually feats on lefties. That set up the wild final play of the game.
“You’ve just got to be ready when your name is called,” said Allard, who lowered his ERA to 4.91 in six appearances. “I think that’s what I was trying to do: just stay ready in between games as much as I could and just go out there and try to deliver when my name is called.”
It was Allard’s first save of his career, marking the end of a wild getaway game on Sunday.
“That was just an amazing, hard-fought win,” Woodward said.
Leiter watch: Rangers top prospect Jack Leiter, the No. 2 overall pick in last year’s MLB Draft, threw just one inning in Double-A Frisco’s game on Sunday. He allowed two hits and no runs in the short start. His previous start he went five innings and allowed seven runs, skyrocketing his ERA to 5.90.
Briefly: Outfielder Zach Reks, a Chicago native that went to high school 17 minute away from Guaranteed Rate Field, had the first multi-hit game of his career … Nathaniel Lowe’s multi-hit streak ended at four games. He was the first Rangers first baseman to do that since Mitch Moreland in 2016 …The Rangers had no new additions to COVID-related IL on Sunday.
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