Postgame Notes: White Sox 2, Rangers 1
TEXAS has lost 4 of 5 games on current 7-day, 7-game homestand featuring series vs. BAL (0-3) and CWS (1-1 + 2 G)…tonight marked MLB-leading 24th one-run loss of the season, as 6-24 (.200) record in one-run contests is the lowest in all of baseball…3 hits tonight marked 2nd-fewest in a game this season (2 H on 5/9 at NYY), and matched club’s season-low at Globe Life Field (also 3 H on 4/26 vs. HOU)…one run also tied fewest in a home game this season (6x, last 1-2 on 6/25 vs. WAS)…3 total bases tonight were fewest in Arlington since being no-hit by Corey Kluber on 5/19/21 vs. NYY.
GLENN OTTO suffered his team-high 8th loss (now 4-8) despite allowing just 2 runs (both earned) on 4 hits and one walk over a career high-tying 6.0 innings (4x, last 7/17 vs. SEA), his 4th quality start of the campaign…matched another career high with 7 strikeouts (4x, last 5/25 at LAA), as his 13 swing-and-miss strikes induced were the 2nd-most of his career (15 on 4/22 at OAK)…retired the first 6 batters he faced before permitting runs in the 3rd (Zavala sac fly) and 4th (Jiménez solo HR) innings…set down 9 of the next 12 White Sox hitters following the HR, but still exited after the 6th trailing 2-1.
BUBBA THOMPSON went 1-for-4 with a pair of stolen bases, the first 2 steals of his Major League career…became the 1st rookie in Rangers history (since 1972) to record 2-or-more stolen bases thru his first 2 career games in the big leagues…Thompson and MIN’s Nick Gordon (2 steals thru 2 career G in 2021) are the only players in MLB over the last 5 seasons (beg. 2018) to tally multiple stolen bases over their first 2 career Major League appearances.
JONAH HEIM worked walks in the 1st and 8th innings tonight, his 5th multi-walk game of the season and 3rd since the beg. of July…he has nearly as many walks (10) as strikeouts (13) since the All-Star break, and his 10 BB over 15 G in the 2nd ‘half’ are the most among Rangers batters…Heim’s 28 walks this season are nearly double his total from last season (15 in 2021) and are already the T5th-most walks by a TEX catcher in the last 20 seasons (beg. 2002): 45-Robinson Chirinos (2018), 34-Chirinos (2017), 31- Jarrod Saltalamacchia (2008), 30-Gerald Laird (2007), 28-Chirinos (2015)/Heim (2022).
CHICAGO-AL improved to 29-23 on the road, 13-7 in their last 20 G, and have won 7 of their last 10 road games…are now 44-5 when leading after 6 innings this year…will look to claim at least a series split with a win tomorrow night.
DYLAN CEASE earned his career-high fifth straight win and posted his 10th quality start of the season…gave up one run on one hit and two walks, all with two outs…retired 16 of the next 18 batters he faced including the last 13 in a row…he now owns a 0.59 ERA (2 ER/30.2 IP) and .176 (19-108) opponents average in his last five starts…broke a tie with Jacob deGrom for the longest streak of starts (13) with 1 ER or fewer since earned runs became official in 1913…has dropped his ERA from 4.24 to 1.98 during this span…picked up his team-leading 12th win to improve to 12-4 with a 1.98 ERA on the year.
ELOY JIMENEZ hit a go-ahead solo-home run in the 4th inning, his 6th of the season…has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 G where he is 18-41 (.429) with 4 HR and 8 RBI during that stretch…finished the game 2-4 before Pollock came into the game for him as a pinch runner.
MISCELLANEOUS: Nathaniel Lowe went hitless tonight (0-3, BB) to snap his career-best 11-game hitting streak, tied for the longest by a Ranger in 2022 (also García, 6/17-29)…White Sox batters were responsible for the top 4 and 10 of the 12 highest exit velocities on batted balls in tonight’s game (Statcast).
