Heim Proving Value to Texas Rangers Following Walk-Off Blast
In order to snap a six-year playoff drought, the Texas Rangers will need contributions from virtually everyone on their roster.
It was Jonah Heim’s turn on Tuesday.
Heim blasted a 403-foot walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Rangers past the Kansas City Royals, 8-5. The third walk-off of Heim’s career landed in the right field stands and gave the Rangers a confidence-boosting victory.
Heim flipped his bat, rounded the bases and the jubilation could be seen on his face.
It’s a marathon 162-game season in Major League Baseball, so big hits like this one are welcomed across the board.
“That was a good one, sometimes you just kind of know,” Heim said. “It's always special when you get to do something cool in the big leagues. Whenever you can help your team in any way, it's special. So tonight, it was hitting a homer. Tomorrow, we'll see what it is, but it's special and we'll definitely celebrate this one tonight.”
Along this theme, Adolis García hit an RBI-single with two outs to tie the game. Josh Jung then walked after grinding out an encouraging at-bat.
Heim took care of the rest.
“We don't get there unless Adolis and Jung do their jobs in front of me,” Heim said. “So that's a great team win right there.”
The Rangers have been a bit inconsistent offensively early this season. They recently went through a stretch where they scored only 12 runs in six games.
Not only did the Rangers cross the plate eight times but they proved to be resilient with the rally and ultimately the walk-off win.
It was the Rangers' first walk-off victory of the season and their first since defeating the Oakland Athletics on Sept. 13, 2022.
Heim is hitting .276 with two homers and six RBI. He doesn’t need to blast a lot of home runs for the Rangers to be successful. Thus far, Heim’s stroke looks good and that’s very positive news for the Rangers.
Texas (7-4) now has the opportunity to go for the sweep against Kansas City on Wednesday with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m CT.
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