Post-Game Notes: Rangers 3, Nationals 2
TEXAS won in walk-off fashion for the 2nd time this season (also Lowe walk-off HR on 5/18 vs. LAA) to level this series, 1-1…is now one of 4 A.L. clubs with multiple walk-off home runs this season (3-NYY, 2-BAL/TB/TEX)…the 1-thru-5 hitters in Texas’ lineup combined to go 1-for-17 this afternoon, with the lone hit being a walk-off solo HR by Adolis García in the 9th inning…2-0 in 2022 when wearing 1972 throwback uniforms (also 3-1 on 4/29 vs. ATL)…all 4 runs scored in this series have come on HR by García (2) and Lowe (1).
ADOLIS GARCÍA lifted the Rangers to a 3-2 victory after he led off the 9th inning with a tie-breaking, walk-off solo home run…was the 2nd walk-off blast of his career (also 5/21/21 vs. HOU off Bryan Abreu) and 2nd by a Ranger this season (also Lowe on 5/18 vs. LAA off Raisel Iglesias)…was his 13th game-tying or go-ahead home run in the 6th inning or later since the start of 2021, the most such HR in MLB over that span…has homered in 2 straight and 3 of his last 6 G, now tied with Corey Seager for the team HR lead (15)…has hits in 7 straight and 14 of his last 15 G at .383 (23-60)…leads club this month in hits (28), RBI (16), and HR (7-tied w/ Lowe)…28 hits in June are 2nd-most in any single month of his career, trailing only 34 hits in May of 2021.
TAYLOR HEARN followed ‘opener’ Brett Martin (1.0 SHO IP) in his first relief appearance of the season…each of his first 13 outings in 2022 had been starts…did not allow a hit over 4.0 shutout frames, the longest hit-less relief outing by a Ranger since Derek Lowe on 4/20/13 vs. SEA (4.0 IP, 0 H) and 2nd-longest scoreless appearance (relief or start) of Hearn’s career (5.0 SHO IP on 5/12/22 vs. KC)…retired the final 9 batters he faced after issuing back-to-back one-out walks in the 2nd inning…exited after the 5th with Texas leading, 2-0, but Washington would level the score in the 6th on a 2-R HR (Cruz).
NATHANIEL LOWE put the Rangers in front, 2-0, with 2-run home run in the 2nd inning…became the 3rd Texas batter to reach the double-digit HR plateau this season (15-Seager, 14-García, 10-Lowe)…his 7 HR in June are tied for most on club (also Garcia), establishing a new career high for HR in a single month (prev. 6 HR in April 2021)…has reached via H/BB in 8 straight and 17 of 22 G this month at .306/.337/.600/.937 (26-85).
MATT MOORE logged 2.0 scoreless frames spanning the 7th and 8th innings, extending his active scoreless streak to 11.1 IP (beg. 6/4)…current shutout span has dropped his season ERA from 3.22 to 2.14…surpassed 1,000 career innings this afternoon (1001.1 IP) becoming MLB’s 18th active left-handed pitcher to reach the mark…the only active Ranger with more career innings pitched is Martín Pérez (1190.0).
WASHINGTON fell to 26-48 and 6-9 in 1-run games…now 3-10 in last 13 G...dropped to 0-10 when scoring exactly 2 runs this season, and club is 2-31 when scoring 2-runs-or-less in 2022...have dropped 4 of last 5 meetings against Texas, and now 4-6 in Interleague this year.
JOSIAH GRAY took no decision in his 8th start of the year...posted career-high 7.0 IP…is now 2-0 with a 1.24 ERA (3 ER/29.0 IP) in his last five starts…owns the best ERA among WSH starters with 4 or more starts this season (3.82)…finished with the final line of 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R-ER, 1 BB, 9 SO, 1 HR, 94 pitches 61 strikes…his 9 SO are tied for the second-most this year.
NELSON CRUZ hit a game-tying 2-run home run 6th inning, leveling the score at 2-2…was his 8th HR of the year and his 23rd career home run against TEX…came into today’s game hitting .320/.400/.500 with 11 doubles, three homers, and 18 RBI since May 20 (32 G)…went 1-for-3 HR, 2 RBI, R, BB.
SHORTS: Brett Martin started today’s game (1.0 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 BB) after logging 1.2 SHO IP in relief last night, becoming the 1st Texas pitcher to start a game after pitching in relief the game before since himself on 7/22-23/19 at SEA…Meibrys Viloria recorded a pair of infield singles in his TEX debut, the lone Ranger with multiple hits today…Texas matched a season high this afternoon by using 4 left-handed pitchers (4x, last 6/5 vs. SEA), as each of first 4 Rangers to pitch were left-handed (Martin/Hearn/Burke/Moore)…marked 1st time to deploy 4 straight lefties to open a game since 5/5/21 at MIN (Yang/King/Martin/Rodriguez)…Josh Smith singled in the 7th inning to extend his career-opening 9-game on-base streak.
