Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports
Home Sweet Home: Rangers Snap Nine-Game Skid In Return To Texas
ARLINGTON, Texas — There's no place like home. Home is where the heart is. Home sweet home.
Whichever cliché you want to use, the Texas Rangers are happy to finally be back in Arlington. More importantly, they're happy to be back in the win column.
"It was awesome to see the fans," said Rangers manager Chris Woodward. "Obviously the fans have been great all year, but I think that gave us a lot of momentum.
"But the fight [from] our guys, you would have never known we had lost nine in a row. That speaks to the character of the team."
The Rangers defeated the red hot Tampa Bay Rays by a score of 5-4, which effectively ended their nine-game losing streak. The Rays didn't go down with a fight, clawing back from a 5-0 deficit with a two-run homer by Brandon Lowe in the eighth inning and a two-run single by Brett Phillips off closer Ian Kennedy in the ninth inning.
The Rangers did a little bit of everything to manufacture runs. The first run of the game came by groundout. In the fourth inning, Texas led off with three straight hits that scored a run, then Charlie Culberson knocked in another with a safety squeeze. Willie Calhoun followed immediately with another RBI single, then in the fifth inning, Joey Gallo mashed a solo homer to straight away center field to build a 5-0 lead.
On the hole, the Rangers looked far more comfortable at the plate. Maybe it was just the comfort of being in their own ballpark again. However, the dialogue between the players and coaching staff prior to the game centered around committing when deciding to swing, and it's something the players were able to carry into the game.
"These are things these young hitters are going to have to go through," Woodward said. "They're trying to have perfect at-bats. A lot of times in that, you end up getting stuck in between. You're not on any pitch at all, and it kind of spirals."
Having Kyle Gibson back from the Injured List was another huge lift for the Rangers. Despite being limited to preserve health, Gibson threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings. It unfortunately snapped the run of nine straight quality starts (at least 6 innings with three runs or less), but there was no question that the Rangers were glad to have their ace back on the mound.
"It's good to be on the winning side of things," Gibson said. "My body felt great. My groin felt great. My arm felt great. I was really fortunate for that."
The game was not without its shortcomings. As previously mentioned, the Rangers nearly blew the five-run lead in the final innings. However, Ian Kennedy was able to slam the door shut with a strikeout of Brandon Lowe on three pitches.
"Obviously this is just a small step, winning a game," Woodward said. "Hopefully it just kind of relieves a little bit of the black cloud or tension in the clubhouse."
The Rangers, now at 23-36 on the season, will try to build off the win in the second game of the series on Saturday afternoon. Kolby Allard (1-1, 3.38 ERA) will take the ball for Texas and square off with veteran starter Rich Hill (4-2, 3.32 ERA).
More on SI's Inside The Rangers:
- DFW Sports Notebook: Flat-Lining Rangers Need A Wake-Up Call
- Rangers Double Dose: 'Dr. Heckle & Mr. Jive'
- Rangers Feel Brunt of MLB's First Steps to Expose Baseball's 'Dirty Little Secret'
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