Thursday Newsletter time: Lowe is the walk-off hero as Rangers sweep Angels

Jeff Wilson May 19, 2022

(AP photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Even when the Rangers were 2-9 early in the season, their games had a different feel to them than in 2021.

Each time they went to the ballpark, they had a chance to win.

It took a while, but the Rangers are winning more than they are losing. They are playing good baseball, and have been for a nearly a month.

Yeah, they have their stinkers. They looked like a high school JV team in their three losses last week.

Now, though, they can seem to do no wrong. And when they do wrong, they do something to fix it.

That was the case Wednesday as they finished off a three-game sweep of Anaheim a 6-5 walk-off victory on Nate Lowe’s two-run homer to start the 10th inning. But the Rangers rallied from an early 3-0 hole Monday with a six-run first inning, and they scored seven runs Tuesday in the eighth inning after leaving the bases loaded in the seventh.

LOWE SENDS US HOME! #StraightUpTX pic.twitter.com/9YYrrPZE57
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) May 19, 2022

They led 4-2 in the ninth Wednesday, but the reliable Matt Bush surrendered a two-run homer to Jared Walsh that forced extra innings. Dennis Santana did well in the 10th to allow only one run, and Lowe smacked the first pitch of the Rangers’ 10th for his second homer of the season.

“That’s fantastic,” he said. “This group fights and this group fights, and that’s what we do.”

The Rangers are 11-5 in their past 16 games, one of the best marks in baseball in that span. At 17-19, they are third in the AL West and have gone 15-10 since their dreadful start.

Contributions have come from just about everyone on the roster, even Marcus Semien. He had two hits Wednesday.

Lowe started hot but had been in a Semien-esque slump. He broke a 4-4 tie Tuesday with a bases-loaded single in the eighth, and sent the Rangers to their fourth straight win and a 6-3 homestand Wednesday with 387-foot drive into the right-field seats.

“I’m so thankful for what the staff does for me, throwing me back out there and giving me a chance to compete,” Lowe said.

Unfriendly confines

The Rangers left after the game Wednesday for Houston, where they will play the Astros the next four days in their first vist of the season to Minute Maid Park.

It’s a venue they would rather skip after the past three seasons.

The Rangers have gone 2-22 at Minute Maid, winning twice in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. In the past two 162 games seasons, in 2019 and 2021, the Rangers are 0-18.

Check, please.

The Astros have been the class of the American League West since 2017. The Rangers have played them well at Globe Life Field, includling two three-game sweeps in 2020 and 2021.

When Woodward talks about learning how to win this season, the Rangers need to learn how to win in Houston in order to reach their goal of contending in future seasons. The Astros don’t seem to be going anywhere.

ICYMI …

This week is not flying by, at least not in my world. It’s been a busy three days that are going to get busier as Rangers Today (subscribe for $5.99 a month, $35 for six months or $60 for the year) hits the road to Houston and Anaheim. It will be a good busy, as always, and here’s the latest in case you missed it.

Farm report: Winn, Alexy get back to basics

The Sunday Read: Struggles of Marcus Semien

Texas Rangers Baseball Podcast: with guest Cole Ragans

Elite eighth