Inside The Rangers

'He's On Another Planet Right Now': Gallo Homers Twice As Rangers Win Fourth Straight Game

Now with seven home runs in his last nine games, Texas Rangers slugger Joey Gallo is officially one of the hottest hitters in baseball.

Chris Halicke

D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

On April 27, Joey Gallo hit his second homer of the season, which ended a career-long 20-game drought. While Gallo was stacking up walks, many were wondering if his exceptional patience was costing him power. 

Nevertheless, Rangers manager Chris Woodward was confident the home runs would come.

"I think he's gonna hit some moon balls like he normally does. I really do," Woodward said. "I think it's just a matter of time, honestly. I think instead of maybe popping it up at times, he'll launch it into the 18th row. They're coming."

It may have taken some patience, but now we are seeing exactly what Woodward foretold. 

The Rangers won their fourth game in a row on Tuesday, defeating the Oakland Athletics by a score of 5-4. It's also the team's sixth win in their last eight games, and the first time the team won a game after an off day.

But once again, Joey Gallo was the story. The 27-year-old slugger is officially red hot, hitting two more home runs on Tuesday night, giving him seven home runs in his last nine games and five homers in his previous three games.

"He's on another planet right now," Woodward said. "He's pretty humble about everything, especially when he's having success. He's putting good swings on good pitches — and they're not coming back. That's the biggest thing."

Gallo has done a superb job staying in the strike zone all season long. Heading into Tuesday night, Gallo led all of Major League Baseball with 61 walks. As mentioned earlier, his patience was lauded by so many, but the lack of home runs drew plenty of skeptics.

Now, everything is clicking for Gallo. 

"That's how baseball goes," Gallo said. "You try to ride out a hot streak as long as you can."

Gallo is back to hitting his patented no-doubters again, but he's also now hit two homers during this streak — including one on Tuesday in Oakland — that were line drives to the opposite field that snuck over the wall. These are shots that fall into the gap for virtually every hitter in the game. But Gallo is strong enough to put them over the fence.

Gallo made a concerted effort over the offseason to stay on top of the ball more, mainly to help avoid pop ups. The home run drought could have been a mixture of adjusting to a new approach, seeing more high-spin pitches thanks to pitchers and their "sticky stuff", along with seeing fewer pitches to hit before guys like Adolis García broke out.

It could just be a coincidence that Gallo is getting hot as MLB cracks down on pitchers using foreign substances. It could also be the culmination of a heightened level of patience mixed with a swing of which Gallo now has more control over. And when you're on a roll, everything seems a bit easier.

"I feel like I've got nothing to lose. I'm just swinging and see what happens," Gallo said. "I've been working really hard to hone my swing in so I can hit balls like I did in my second [homer]. ... I'm just trying to keep it as simple as possible. Getting a pitch to hit and trying not to miss it."

Game Notes

  • Mike Foltynewicz allowed two runs on four hits and one walk while striking out six over a season-high tying seven innings. In his two starts against Oakland, Foltynewicz has only allowed four runs in 13 innings.
  • Nate Lowe has reached base safely in his last 14 games. He is batting .346 (18-for-52) with two doubles, a triple, two home runs, eight RBI, eight walks and seven runs scored during that span.
  • In his first game back in the Coliseum since being traded by Oakland, Jonah Heim went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. He has reached base safely in his last five games.
  • Nick Solak recorded his third multi-hit game over his last three contests. He hit his ninth homer of the season in a crucial spot, giving Texas a 5-2 lead in the ninth inning. The two-run shot turned out to be the deciding play as Oakland went deep twice in the bottom of the inning, pulling within a run before closer Ian Kennedy finally slammed the door.
  • The Rangers (31-48) will send southpaw Kolby Allard (2-3, 3.33 ERA) to the mound on Wednesday night. The Oakland A's (47-34) will counter with right-hander Chris Bassitt (8-2, 3.25 ERA).

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Chris Halicke
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