Top performers started at the bottom
Bulk of Rangers’ offence in first two games generated by hitters at back of lineup
Bottom’s up.
The Texas Rangers, now with a twogame stranglehold in their best-offive series with the Blue Jays, have seen the bottom of their lineup make the difference against a Toronto team that was supposed to have the competitive edge in just about every facet of the game.
Now headed back to Texas with two chances to win this series in front of their home fans, the Rangers are buoyed by the fact that seven of their 11 runs scored in the two games in Toronto came from the bottom three players in their batting order.
“When you think of the contributors in the game today, you’re talking about everyone but the guys inside our core group of guys,” said Rangers manager Jeff Banister, referring to Rougned Odor, Chris Gimenez and Hanser Alberto. Alberto had the game-winning hit in the 14th inning as the Rangers took a 6-4 win.
Alberto, who posted an 0-4 effort in Thursday’s Game 1, took batting practice with leadoff man Delino DeShields’ bat on Friday in hopes of shaking off that performance.
He was all smiles after the game; his winning hit was redemption of a sort for an error in the second inning that led to a pair of runs for the Jays.
“I feel sad about that error, it cost us runs, but we fought for the runs we got and I kept my head up, a lot of ground balls came my way after that, so I had to be ready,” said Alberto, who also said he was taking pointers from all-star third baseman Adrian Beltre, confined to the bench after a back injury forced an early exit in Game 1.
“(Beltre) moved me around, he told me where to play and the good thing is he said just be you, play the way you play, don’t worry (about the error),” Alberto said.
Losing Beltre could have been a telling theme for this series, but overall Alberto has filled in admirably at third.
The surge of production from the bottom of the lineup is also important considering the ongoing postseason drought of the player hitting in front of them, Josh Hamilton. He’s in an 0-10 slump in this series, and is 0-30 over his last 30 post-season atbats, the second-longest hitless streak in major league post-season history (former Seattle Mariner Dan Wilson is tops with an 0-42 streak that ended in 2000).
The Rangers jet home having reinforced the overall team mentality — “never, ever quit” — that they stressed all year long. Many observers had written off the team’s chances of even making the playoffs after the team lost several key players to injury early in the season.
Banister tried to underline that mentality when he was asked about two key developments in the game: the safe call at second base when Odor was tagged by Troy Tulowitzki, and the manager’s decision to walk Edwin Encarnacion intentionally in the eighth with a runner on second (Tulowitzki, the next batter, grounded out to end the inning and strand the runner).
Banister also got a pivotal performance from his bullpen: Sam Dyson, Jake Diekman, Shawn Tolleson, Keone Kela, and Ross Ohlendorf, kept the Jays off the board over the final seven innings, and were a huge part of the reason why the Jays’ vaunted offence registered only two extra base hits in the 14-inning game.
Bannister said Beltre “had a bat in his hand (to pinch hit),” and was “itching” to get in there — but at no time did the manager consider sending his best player to the plate Friday.
Beltre remains questionable for Sunday’s Game 3. If the veteran’s injury worsens, he could be replaced on the ALDS roster. He wouldn’t be eligible to return this round, but could be part of the team’s Championship Series or World Series rosters, if Texas advances.