Texas Rangers Must Score in Variety Of Ways

The Texas Rangers can't always rely on home runs to be successful, so mixing in some small ball like they did Friday is key.

The Texas Rangers defeated the defending World Series champion Houston Astros in Friday's opener of the Silver Boot Series.

What was impressive in the 6-2 victory was how the Rangers accomplished the feat.

Yes, Adolis García hit a home run, but the Rangers (8-5) produced runs in a variety of ways, including a key sacrifice bunt from Josh Smith in the fifth inning.

The long ball won’t always work.

Sometimes, it takes fundamental baseball like bunting runners over, playing hit-and-run and stealing bases.

“I think it's gonna be a balanced offense that will put up runs consistently,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “A lot of clubs go through their ups and downs, but our ups are better than the downs, I can tell you that. It's a good offense, and they’ve done a lot of good things already.”

The Rangers go for the series win Saturday with John Gray (1-1, 3.00) making his third start. Houston (6-8) counters with Hunter Brown (1-0, 3.09). First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 p.m.

With Corey Seager probably sidelined for at least a month, the Rangers might feature some different lineups.

If they manufacture some runs, it will help immensely.

“It's all about adjusting on the fly here,” Bochy said. “It’s just what we got to do and what I need to do (making the lineup) and moving things around a little bit. We all have to deal with injuries sometimes. That's our case right now.”

Every team deals with injuries.

In this era of relying on home runs, the Rangers are smart enough to realize they have to score runs in multiple ways.

“We're gonna miss Corey, of course, but the organization's done a good job of getting good players in a position where they're going to have success,” Nathaniel Lowe said.

“Josh was really key tonight. Getting the runners to second and third when I was able to get them in was huge. It'll probably go overlooked over the course of the season, but that's a good player, and he's gonna put together quality performances, regardless of whether he gets a hit or not.”

The home runs will come. The Rangers know that. While Seager is out, they have to play small ball. It worked Friday.

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