Being on IL 'Sucked' for Texas Rangers Star Corey Seager
ARLINGTON, Texas — After 31 missed games, Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager was more than ready to return.
On Wednesday, he did, settling back into his No. 2 spot in the order and taking over the designated hitter duties in a 6-5 loss to the Atlanta Braves.
Come Friday, assuming no setbacks, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy says that Seager should be at shortstop. That will be the series opener against the Colorado Rockies.
One thing is certain — Seager is done watching baseball. He was activated from the injured list Wednesday.
“The IL sucks,” Seager said before the game. “You never want to be there. You never want to spend an extended amount of time there.”
But Seager had to be there for a month. He suffered a left hamstring injury trying to stretch out a double on April 11 against the Kansas City Royals. The Rangers put him on the 10-day injured list the next day and he spent the next month recovering.
He could have played on Tuesday but a stomach bug kept him out of the lineup.
When Seager left he was the team’s best hitter, sporting a .359 batting average with one home run and four RBI.
Seager did not pick up right where he left off a month ago. Facing Braves starter Spencer Strider — who was 4-1 going into the game — Seager lined out to Braves left fielder Eddie Rosario twice in the first three innings. The second came with two runners on base and one out.
Seager later struck out in the fifth inning. In the seventh, Seager came to the plate with Marcus Semien at third after a triple. Atlanta center fielder Michael Harris II robbed Seager of an extra-base with a running catch toward the wall, but it was enough to drive in Semien on a sacrifice fly and make it 5-3 Rangers.
He finished 0-for-3 with an RBI.
He returned to a team that leads the American League West, leads the Majors in runs scored per game and has five players that have at least 24 runs and 24 RBI this season.
The Rangers didn’t suffer without Seager, something he took pride in seeing from the bench.
“No one person can carry a lineup,” Seager said. “You know, maybe you can win one game, but it’s not an extended amount of time kind of thing. So, to watch us go from one to nine (in the lineup) and how we worked was really impressive.”
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