'They Love Playing Together' Rangers Win Another Thriller in Dramatic Fashion

The Texas Rangers are young, but they are playing with a level of excitement we haven't seen in Arlington for a few years.

Chris Halicke | May 8, 2021

ARLINGTON, Texas — Baseball in Arlington is fun again, regardless of how many notches wind up in the win column.

On Saturday, the Texas Rangers did add another tally to their win total, topping the Seattle Mariners in maybe the most exciting game of the season.

And yes, the Rangers came back once again.

"I feel like the team we have in that locker room, you just hear them after the game, you see them during the game, they love playing baseball," said Rangers manager Chris Woodward. "They love playing together. They love each other. We obviously focus on a lot of things to improve on the baseball field. These guys don't take a day off when it comes to talking about how to get better."

Both the Rangers and Mariners battled back-and-forth for most of the night. But rookie sensation Adolis García proved to be the x-factor, coming through in two huge moments.

First, García hit a game-tying home run to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning. Then, after the Rangers carried a two-run lead into the ninth, Seattle's J.P. Crawford flared a single into shallow center field with runners on the corners. One run came in easily and speedster Kyle Lewis was chugging from first to home to tie the game after García booted the ball in the outfield.

However, García fired a missile to home plate, where catcher Jonah Heim applied a difficult pick-and-tag on Lewis' leg just before crossing home plate to save the game.

"I can't describe that," Woodward said. "This guy's got some flare for the dramatic to pick that ball up and throw a dart to home. And honestly, Jonah's play will be on the highlight reel for a long time. It's a tough in between — pick, tag. Just impressive."

ADOLIS CALLED GAME. 🚀 pic.twitter.com/a5JFktxwVh
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) May 9, 2021

At one point earlier in the game, the Rangers trailed 5-1, with the lone run being a solo homer by Joey Gallo. Rangers tarter Kohei Arihara struggled to execute his pitches and was knocked out of the game after only 3 2/3 innings, which meant the team was going to have to scratch and claw back into the game once again.

Gallo answered the bell, sparking the comeback by jumping on a changeup from Ljay Newsome for his second homer of the game, a two-run shot in the fourth inning.

"I know I struggled with the changeups the first day, so I had a plan that they might attack me with the same thing," Gallo said. " In the back of my head, I was ready for that pitch. He actually made a pretty good pitch, but I was just feeling good."

Rangers shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa played a huge role in the comeback as well. He followed up Gallo's second homer with an RBI double to pull the Rangers within one, then came back again in the sixth inning with a two-run single to put Texas ahead 6-5.

Kolby Allard and John King did well for the most part out of the bullpen, but both pitchers each gave up a solo homer — one to tie the game at 6-6, then another that put Seattle ahead 7-6.

After García's tying homer in the eighth inning, Khris Davis made his Rangers debut with a pinch-hit single. After Charlie Culberson was intentionally walked with one out in the frame, Heim came through with a huge RBI double that put the Rangers ahead 8-7.

A mental lapse by Mariners catcher Luis Torrens allowed Culberson to score after Willie Calhoun grounded to short. Crawford fired home to prevent Culberson from scoring, but Torrens received the throw as if there was a force play and failed to tag Culberson, which ended up being the deciding run of the game.

Regardless of luck, mental lapses, or bazookas attached to human shoulders, Chris Woodward's team is fun. And they are completely bought in to the brand of baseball we are witnessing on a nightly basis.

"To see that joy of how we play the game, it is a little bit like a proud dad," Woodward said. "This is exactly the vision we have for this organization. People that want to be a part of this, it's fun. We have a good time doing it. It's hard work and we demand a lot of our players. But they love it. They love going out there, and they love being in moments like that."

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Published May 8, 2021

CHRIS HALICKE