Lineup Appears Set for Texas Rangers in Royals Dress Rehearsal

Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy plays his regular season the entire game preparations continue for MLB Opening Day.

ARLINGTON, Texas — With just a few remaining roster decisions to be made, the Texas Rangers used a lineup that looks to be the everyday version in a 4-4 exhibition tie with the Kansas City Royals on Monday at Globe Life Field.

The score mattered little, but the Rangers (12-15-3) did rally from a 4-0 hole. Texas manager Bruce Bochy was more interested in taking final looks at players at certain spots as final decisions on the lineup and 26-man roster are being made.

In fact, the game had the feel of a dress rehearsal. All eight starters in the field played the entire game, with the exception of the designated hitter.

Adolis García started in center field instead of right field. He’s an option there because of the injury to Leody Taveras. Bochy said Taveras probably needs another week before he’s ready to return from a quad injury.

The Rangers open the season Thursday against the Philadelphia Phillies.

García — 0-for-4 at the plate — is an option to start in center. So is Bubba Thompson, who didn’t start on Monday but could play in Tuesday’s final exhibition game at 1:05 p.m.

Moving García to center gave Bochy a chance to give Robbie Grossman — the expected starter in left field — another test drive in right field. It’s one of several potential combinations Bochy is playing through.

That put Josh Smith in left field. But it easily could have been Thompson or Ezequiel Duran.

But the batting order — at least the top half — was consistent. Second baseman Marcus Semien led off, followed by shortstop Corey Seager, first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, García and third baseman Josh Jung.

Bochy said Jonah Heim would get the bulk of playing time behind the plate. But Mitch Garver started there on Monday and hit sixth.

Grossman, designated hitter Brad Miller and Smith rounded out the batting order.

Smith played a hand in the comeback with a two-out, opposite-field double into the left-center field gap in the seventh that scored Garver and Heim, who pinch-hit for Miller.

In the eighth, the Rangers crafted a two-out rally, sparked by Josh Jung’s single. Garver followed with a walk and Grossman’s single drove in Jung. Heim singled to score Garver and tie the game, but Smith struck out to end the threat.

In the ninth, the only drama was whether Seager could extend his spring training hitting streak to 16 games, but he flew out harmlessly to left field and finished 0-for-5.

Meanwhile, starter Nathan Eovaldi (1-1) gave up earned runs for the first time. In spite of that, he stayed on track to start on Saturday in the second game of the season against the Phillies.

Eovaldi pitched five innings and give up four runs. He pitched around a single to Edward Olivares and a double to Jackie Bradley Jr. in the third, giving up only a Bobby Witt Jr. sacrifice fly.

The fourth inning went worse. Eovaldi walked Royals catcher Salvador Perez and then surrendered a two-run home run to Michael Massey. Hunter Dozier blasted a solo home run to give Kansas City a 4-0 lead.

Eovaldi gave up seven hits and a walk. He struck out six and threw 80 pitches, 55 of which were strikes. He said afterward that he’s ready for the regular season.

“I think it was a solid spring,” said Eovaldi, who had a 2.35 ERA. “(Tonight I threw) 80 pitches. Arm feels good. I had a couple of long innings where I got cold in the dugout and had to get hot again. That’s one of the big things for me — not the pitch count but getting up and down between innings and getting loose.”

Bochy said Eovaldi wasn’t as sharp as he had been this spring, but had no concerns about Saturday.

His bullpen was on top of its game. The combination of Brock Burke, Will Smith, Jonathan Hernández and José Leclerc threw four scoreless innings. They struck out eight, with Leclerc striking out the side.

“They were on top of their game all of them,” Bochy said. “Sometimes you use the bullpen a lot like that. It got contagious. They all pitched a great game to finish up and gave us a chance to come back.”

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