June 5, 2022 - Game 53
W- Diego Castillo (3-0)
L- Brock Burke (3-1)
S - Paul Sewald (4)
HR: TEX: García (10), Semien (3), Duran (1), Garver (7); SEA: Suárez (11), France (8)
Time of Game: 3:39
Game Recap
The Rangers and Mariners concluded their three-game series on Sunday. For the third time on this seven-game home stand, the Rangers had a player make his Major League debut. The club made some roster moves Sunday, including bringing up Steele Walker from Triple-A Round Rock. In addition, the team designated Willie Calhoun for assignment, and Andy Ibáñez was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock. "We talked about [Leody and Bubba], but we were specifically looking for a left-handed hitter," Jon Daniel said. "Steele has done well against right-handed pitching and made good adjustments." Texas also sent their ace Martín Pérez to the mound Sunday.
Adolis García got things swinging in the second inning with a 433-foot solo home run to left field as the Rangers struck first. Following in the third inning, Marcus Semien went deep to left field against Mariners' starter George Kirby as the Rangers took a 2-0 lead. In the fourth, Pérez did something he hadn't done all season, allow a home run. Eugenio Suárez took Martín deep to cut the Rangers' lead to 2-1, then in the fifth laced an RBI single, tying the game up.
Both teams couldn't get anything offensively until the bottom of the seventh. Then, Ezequiel Duran, called up from Double-A yesterday, launched his first MLB home run 402 feet. This season, Duran hit seven homers in the minor leagues (all with Double-A Frisco). He also picked up an infield hit as his first MLB hit back in the second inning. "I was excited and couldn't wait for the moment," Duran said regarding the home run. "I go with an approach to try to make good contact. Every time I go up to bat, I'm looking for that fastball and I was ready for it."
Seattle threatened with two on and two outs, but Brett Martin got Adam Frazier to ground out to end any scoring chance in the inning. Texas added some insurance in the eighth inning with Mitch Garver going deep down the left field line. In the ninth inning, the Rangers couldn't protect a three run lead. The Mariners tied the game up on a solo homer by Ty France and a two-run double by Suárez off today's closer, Matt Bush.
In the tenth inning, the Mariners scored their run on a wild pitch by Brock Burke. Abraham Toro started at second base, moved to third, and with one out the ball four pitch to Adam Frazier got away from Jonah Heim. The Rangers could not cross the tying run to the plate in the tenth after three straight popouts. Texas fell 6-5 on a tough ending afternoon.
For Martín Pérez's standards, it wasn't the best start, but it still was an excellent outing for a regular starter. He allowed seven hits and two walks and struck out seven in six innings. The two runs were the most he allowed since his second start of the year against the Angels. "I was able to throw and six and keep the game tied to win," Martín said. "Mentally I'm strong and I have more experience. Now I know what I can do in those situations and what pitches I can throw to get out of the inning," Pérez' said in comparison to previously in his career where he wouldn't go six in the pressure he faced.
On Sunday, Rangers manager Chris Woodward pitched Matt Moore on back-to-back days. Like yesterday, Moore pitched a scoreless seventh inning while striking out one batter. However, it was an uncharacteristic outing from Dennis Santana, who allowed a double and a walk and couldn't get out of the eighth inning. In the eighth, Brett Martin came into the jam and threw two pitches for a groundout. With Joe Barlow pitching the last two nights, Matt Bush came into save the ninth, but four hits and three runs surrendered a three run lead. "A couple of balls that were hit hard were not executed," Chris Woodward said. "Suarez pitch caught too much of the plate."
Brock Burke meantime came in to clean up the ninth and got a flyout to keep the game tied. Burke pitched the tenth, allowed the zombie runner to score, but got out of trouble, despite some command issues.
Postgame Notes
Martín Pérez pitched 66.1 innings of homerless baseball, the third-longest season-opening streak in Rangers history. It was 69.1 of overall homerless pitching for Martín Pérez going back to 2021.
Sunday snapped a streak of eight straight starts where Pérez allowed one or zero runs.
Adolis García homered in back-to-back games for the first time since August 28-29 against the Astros. However, he did have a multi-home run game on May 15th against Boston.
Martín Pérez picked up his ninth straight quality start, which ties a team record. He's also the seventh pitcher in club history to have nine straight quality starts.
Three of Ezequiel Duran's last five games in Double-A were multi-hit games. He picked up a multi-hit game in the majors in only his second career MLB game.
The zombie runner has scored in all six Rangers extra inning frames (2-3 in extra inning games).
Fifteen of the last eighteen runs scored by the Rangers have been through the home run ball.
The Ty France homer off Matt Bush breaks a string of six straight scoreless outings for Matt Bush.
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