– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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ARLINGTON, TEXAS — In somewhat of a role reversal from nine months ago, the Texas Rangers were the ones trying to, and succeeding in, salvaging a game against the Baltimore Orioles at home, and the Rangers’ battery did most of the work in getting at least one game against the American League pacesetters.
Catcher Jonah Heim hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning while starter Andrew Heaney pitched five scoreless innings as the Rangers defeated the Orioles 3-2 to avoid a three-game sweep over the weekend inside Globe Life Field. Corey Seager extended his Major League-best on-base streak to 21 consecutive games with a single in the first inning as Texas has twice on the series finale against the Orioles this season after Baltimore won the all of the games prior to the finales. (Baltimore took three out of four inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards in late June.)
Heim came into his at-bat in the fourth inning mired in a 1-for-17 slump when he came up with two outs and two runners on, Wyatt Langford and Nathaniel Lowe, who had walked earlier in the inning. On the first pitch of the at-bat against Baltimore starter Dean Kremer, Heim unloaded on his ninth homer of the season, pulling the ball into right-centerfield where it landed in the Rangers’ bullpen, for the first runs of the game.
“The last thing you want to do is get swept here at home,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “They had their way with us the first two games, so you’re trying to stop things.”
The following half-inning saw Heim play his role in helping H4eaney get through the fifth and earn a victory, as the Orioles had a runner on, after a Gunnar Henderson double, with two outs and Adley Rutschman, who had homered in Friday’s game and came into Sunday batting .372 against left-handed pitching, coming up. Bochy walked to the mound after Henderson’s double, and before he really got a chance to start talking to Heaney, the hurler made sure to assure Bochy he was good to stay in, albeit in less than straightforward fashion.
“I kind of made it awkward,” Heaney said jokingly. “My brain was going a million miles an hour there. I’m just thinking about Adley and how I want to approach him. Boch got out there and he was trying to ask me like, ‘How are you doing, how are you feeling?’ I was just like, ‘Yeah, I’m good, Jonah, what do you want to do?’ I kind of was like trying to have two conversations at once. I made it awkward and I think we’re all just kind of laughing.”
It worked, as Heaney got Rutschman to ground out to third to end the inning.
Baltimore cut the lead to one on Anthony Santander’s two-run shot off reliever David Robertson in the eighth inning, the outfielder’s 27th of the season, to cut the lead to 3-2, but Kirby Yates retired the Orioles in the ninth, including striking out two, to earn the save.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Ross James. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 36 pictures in total.
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