– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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ARLINGTON, TEXAS — When a bad event occurs, the common aphorism that follows is that there is only one direction one’s fortunes can go, and that is up. Literally, Marcus Semien was down for the count after his first at- bat, and soon after, things went up for the Rangers shortstop.
Up and over the wall, that is!
Semien scored the first run of the game in the first inning after getting hit by a pitch in the head, then launched a two-run home run in his next at-bat to help lead the Rangers to a 7-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants inside Globe Life Field on Sunday afternoon. Nathan Eovaldi gave up two runs and struck out five in seven innings as Texas avoided a sweep of the three-game set.
The first pitch from Giants starter Keaton Winn was a 95 mph fastball that hit Semien on the his helmet, immediately sending a jolt of fear through the crowd. After a brief delay and while being evaluated by trainers, Semien remained in the game and, a few pitches later, stole second base. With runners on first and second, Adolis García broke an 0-for-16 slump with a hard single to center that loaded the bases.
Winn came back to strike out Nathaniel Lowe and Ezequiel Duran to come one out away from escaping the jam. However, Wyatt Langford singled to center to drive home Semien and Josh Smith to open the scoring. Langford and García then executed a double steal, with García sliding in just ahead of the tag attempt by Giants catcher Patrick Bailey to extend the Rangers’ lead to 3-0.
Semien did not waste any time getting a measure of revenge in his next at-bat. With a runner on second, Semien cracked the first pitch from Winn deep to left and just inside the left field foul pole for his 11th home run of the season and a 5-0 Texas lead.
“Scary moment, as you well know, when a guy gets hit in the helmet,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “Marcus, he does have a knack next time up — hit a home run. I’ve seen it more than once now. He plays with a lot of fire, and he gets ticked off at times.”
*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 22 pictures in total.
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