Texas Rangers Wins Over Tigers Rely On More Timely Hits, Fewer Empty Outs

ARLINGTON, Texas — Timely hits and empty outs. Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy wants plenty of the former and as little as possible of the latter.

If one was trying to explain the Rangers’ recent offensive valley those two are atop the equation.

The timely hits were there when the Rangers were putting up eye-popping numbers in April and May. They dropped off in June. But wins over Detroit Tigers on Tuesday and Wednesday provided reminders of what timely hits can do.

“We know it’s not going to be great baseball for six months,” Rangers outfielder Robbie Grossman said. “There are going to be times throughout the season when you find out what you really have in this clubhouse and we’ve got some dogs in this clubhouse.”

Take the opportunity to pinch-hit third baseman Josh Jung and outfielder Leody Taveras in the sixth inning on Tuesday.

Bochy’s move to insert Jung in the lineup was driven entirely by the matchup. The Tigers brought in left-handed reliever Chasen Shreve. With a runner in scoring position, Bochy liked the matchup. He also knew his team needed a jolt.

Jung delivered. His single to right scored Adolis García and tied the game at 2-2.

“Two strikes, really battled hard up there to get the base hit to right,” Bochy said. “He was staying on the ball, wasn’t too aggressive.”

It was a timely hit. It’s what the Rangers were missing in the seven games leading up to Tuesday’s 8-3 win. The Rangers were 14-for-66 with runners in scoring position (.212) in those seven games, capped by their 0-for-10 performance in a loss to Detroit on Monday.

The Rangers were still hitting an MLB-best .308 with runners in scoring position after Tuesday’s win, despite hitting .222 in those situations in the last 21 games.

There were other timely hits on Tuesday. Taveras’ pinch-hit two batters later scored Jung to break the tie. In the eighth, Ezequiel Duran’s home run — on the 12th pitch of his at-bat — gave the Rangers a 4-3 lead and sparked a five-run inning.

It’s what Bochy calls “contagious offense.” One guy lights the spark and the rest follow.

“Those are the much-needed hits that we’ve been missing,” Bochy said.

That “contagious offense” spilled over into Wednesday’s 10-2 win over the Tigers.

The Rangers scored four first-inning runs and went 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position, sending 10 batters to the plate. They only had three hits with runners in scoring position combined in the first two games of the series.

While timely hits are important, so are avoiding empty outs. Those are outs that don’t accomplish anything with runners on base.

The Rangers were trailing 2-0 entering the sixth Tuesday before Nathaniel Lowe drew a walk and García was hit by a pitch.

The next two at-bats were outs, but neither was empty. Jonah Heim grounded out to Tigers second baseman Andy Ibáñez. His only play was to get Heim at first base. Lowe and García moved into scoring position.

Grossman followed with a sacrifice fly to center field. It was the inning’s second out. But it scored Lowe and put the Rangers on the board.

Then came the pitching change. Then came Jung. Then came the tie game. Then came the lead and the eventual win.

The Rangers had another example of avoiding the empty out in the seventh on Wednesday, though they had an 8-0 lead at the time. Taveras doubled. Marcus Semien then hit a deep out to right field, allowing Taveras to move to third. Josh Smith then hit an opposite-field single to left to score Taveras.

Timely hits and empty outs. The Rangers have the lineup to collect one and avoid the other, even if it looks like they’re struggling.

“It looks worse than it is,” Bochy said. “I think right now we have a winning record this month. I think sometimes we get a little spoiled by how things were going, but this game is not that easy.”

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