Rangers Takeaways: Ezequiel Duran Developing Clutch Gene

As Texas returns home from its longest road trip of the season, the rookie infielder is showing more signs that he loves those important moments.

The Texas Rangers won three out of four from the Los Angeles Angels and wrapped up a 5-6 road trip. Here are three takeaways from the series.

Ezequiel Duran’s Clutch Gene

The Rangers already have a clutch power hitter in Adolis García. It’s starting to appear that rookie infielder Ezequiel Duran is becoming a bit of a clutch contact hitter.

Back in June, Duran tripled in a night game against Detroit and drove in the winning runs late in the game at Comerica Park. He had a sense of the moment.

He showed that again on Sunday. In the top of the ninth against the Los Angeles Angels, Duran came up with the bases loaded and took a pitch from Raisel Iglesias and went opposite field with it. The ball landed in the right-center field gap, took a high carom off the fence and he had a stand-up double as three runs scored to clinch the Rangers’ 5-2 win.

After the game, Rangers manager Chris Woodward told Bally Sports Southwest that Duran talked about the type of pitch he was looking for and what he was going to do with it, if he got that pitch. Turns out that was the pitch and that was what he wanted to do — go opposite field.

“I think he’s blessed with that trait,” Woodward said. “No matter what happens to him he still believes he’s the best player on the planet.”

Duran needed the short memory. He came up empty-handed in three previous plate appearances.

With two months left in the season, what seems clear is that Duran isn’t going anywhere. The Rangers look committed to finding him playing time as often as possible. With Corey Seager hurt the past three games, he played in the middle infield, which is more of his natural position. But he’s playing well at third and, at some point, I expect the Rangers to test-drive him in the outfield. That’s something he did in his short stint at Round Rock.

Duran is building his case for 2023. What he does the next two months will determine what the Rangers want to do with him next season and beyond.

Nathaniel Lowe’s Impressive Road Trip

Nathaniel Lowe wrapped up the Rangers’ 11-game road trip with a 1-for-4 performance with an RBI, giving him hits in 10 of the 11 games of the road trip. By going 14-for-45, he hit .311 for the trip and kept his average above .270 for the season.

The power is there, too. He didn’t hit a home run on Sunday, but he’s hit 12 of his 15 home runs since June 1 and had seven home runs in June, which was a career high. So, if you can do the simple math, he had five home runs in July.

Lowe was the Rangers Player of the Month in April, but his play dipped in May. He has slowly, but surely, put together an impressive stretch in his last 62 games, as his .275 batting average is well above what it was at the start of that stretch — .236.

Lowe’s long-term future in Texas is a bit hazy. The Rangers have plenty of potential, more controllable options on the farm (Dustin Harris is basically screaming at the Rangers from Double-A Frisco to find him a spot, and he can play first base). But, the Rangers don’t have to be hasty. Lowe is under team control in 2023, has three arbitration years and can’t hit free agency until 2027.

For this year, Lowe is the team’s best option at first base. And, each game, he make a strong case for the future, too.

Jon Gray Is This Good Right Now

Jon Gray will start Monday’s game against Baltimore, the first game of August. The Rangers stand a good chance of winning, simply by Gray taking the mound.

In his last three games, Gray is 2-1, 1.86 (4 earned runs in 19 1/3 innings pitched), six walks, 22 strikeouts and a .149 opponent batting average.

But the truth is this has been going longer than three starts. In Gray’s last nine starts since June 12, among American League starters in that span, he is tied for second in wins (six), fourth in ERA (2.25), fourth in innings pitched (56), sixth in strikeouts per nine innings (10.6) and sixth in opponent batting average (.206).

After a slow start, Gray is having, shall we say, a Martín Pérez-esque type of June and July.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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