White goes deep after taking HR away as Rangers defeat Tampa Bay

ARLINGTON, Texas — Rangers center fielder Eli White initially wasn’t sure if he could even make the catch. He just jumped as high as he could at the wall.

“It’s like he just kept going up,” Texas manager Chris Woodward said. “I thought he jumped up too early, and he just kept rising.”

White did make a spectacular leaping catch to take away a three-run homer from Ji-Man Choi in the first inning, and he later hit a long home run as the Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 9-5 on Monday night.

After White sprinted to the warning track and jumped, his upper body was well above the 6-foot wall fronting the Rays bullpen in left-center. His left arm was fully extended above his head when he made the grab more than 400 feet from home plate.

“That was definitely the best play I’ve ever made,” said White, primarily a middle infielder for much of his early time in the minors. “It was the kind of play I’ve been dreaming about making ever since I’ve made the transition to outfield.”

Glenn Otto (3-2), the rookie righthander who had walked and hit a batter with a pitch before that, lifted his glove to salute his teammate. Choi even smiled about it.

“If there was any sign that the night wasn’t going to go our way, maybe that should have been it,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Ji-Man got a lot of that baseball.”

Otto said he had never seen or been part of anything like that, calling White “one of the most athletic guys I’ve been around ... might be Spiderman.”

White, who estimated his vertical leap at 40 inches, smiled at the comparison to his favorite superhero — and when the highlight then popped up on televisions in the clubhouse.

Jonah Heim also homered and Kole Calhoun drove in three runs for Texas (23-24), which with a win Tuesday could reach .500 for the first time this season. Mitch Garver was 3 for 4 with a walk and a two-run double after missing the previous three games with a mild left knee sprain.

Rays starter Drew Rasmussen (52) walked the first three batters he faced and threw two wild pitches before Calhoun went the opposite way. Calhoun’s groundball single through the open left side of the infield because of a defensive shift put Texas up 2-0.

After Josh Smith led off the Texas second with a single in his first big league at-bat, White homered to straightaway center field as the ball sailed beyond the reach of a leaping Brett Phillips. White’s second homer of the season gave the Rangers a 4-1 lead.