– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
Follow @Koiki_Sport Follow @ALOST_Official
ARLINGTON, Texas — It has taken three full seasons, a couple of massive big-money signings, and the addition of a future Hall-of-Fame manager, but Globe Life Field has now become the fortress the Texas Rangers hoped it would become. Rangers starter Andrew Heaney made sure that Texas’ most recent stay in Arlington ended, as well as started, in style.
Heaney threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings while going up against the reigning National League Cy Young winner, Sandy Alcantara, helping the Rangers sweep the Marlins after a 6-0 victory on Sunday afternoon, Texas’ sixth consecutive victory. The Rangers’ offense helped support the pitching staff’s efforts toward a shutout with four long balls, as Nathaniel Lowe, Marcus Semien, Ezequiel Duran and Adolis García each homered for Rangers, who improved to a Major League-best 40-20 inside of Globe Life Field this season.
Texas swept the Chicago White Sox in a three-game set before the trifecta against the Marlins, and Heaney opened up the homestand with six scoreless innings against the Pale Hose on Tuesday, just days after the Rangers had added starteing pitchers Max Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery right before the Trade Deadline. On Sunday, Heaney once again pitched into the sixth inning on his way to winning his third consecutive start and extending his scoreless innings streak to a career-long 15 2/3.
Though Alcantara is well off the pace from his dominant form of 2022, it was still impressive that the Rangers hit three home runs off of the right-hander on the day, with Lowe’s two-run shot giving the Rangers a 3-0 lead in the second inning. Texas hit multiple home runs in each of the six games of the homestand.
“The ball is flying out of here,” said Semien, whose solo homer off of Alcantara led off the bottom of the fifth inning. “Earlier when this ballpark was first built, everyone talked about it being a pitchers’ park. It’s definitely been a hitters’ park, at least most of the time, for us.”
The Rangers received some bad news, however, as third baseman Josh Jung left the game in the sixth after knocking down a line drive from the bat of Marlins right fielder Jorge Soler, and X-rays revealed a broken bone in his left thumb. Jung is one of the leading candidates for American League Rookie of the Year, pacing all Major League rookies with 22 homer runs and leading all American League rookies in hits (117), extra-base hits (47), runs (70), and runs batted in (67).
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with all photos taken by Dallas-area photographer Ross James. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 31 pictures in total.
Follow @Koiki_Sport Follow @ALOST_Official
