July 5, 2022 - Game 79
W - Joey Krehbiel (4-3)
L - Matt Moore (3-2)
S- None
HR: TEX: Garver (10), Lowe (12), Seager (16); BAL: McKenna (1), Odor (9)
Time of Game: 3:46
Game Recap
After a gut-wrenching July 4th loss, the Rangers took on the Orioles again at Camden Yards. Texas eluded that Spencer Howard would get the start, and before the game, the Rangers made the move official by sending Josh Sborz to Triple-A Round Rock. Howard came off a seven-inning and eleven strikeouts scoreless performance in Triple-A on June 30th, his best start at any level in 2022. So instead, the Rangers faced Austin Voth, who the Orioles acquired from the Nationals last month. Voth had gone two starts throwing three innings of one-run baseball. The game on Tuesday resembled a little of Monday with the same outcome, but more twists and turns. "I'm proud of our guys," Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. "We fought back, got behind early, fought back again, [and] fell behind again. Nate with the huge homer there and Corey gets the big lead. Just made a couple of mistakes there at the end."
The Orioles threatened in the first inning off Howard, but Spencer got Adley Rutschman to ground out to end the first. However, Baltimore sprung together five hits in the second. The scoring started with a Jorge Mateo single scoring Ramon Urias. Then Cedric Mullins doubled in two runs, and Trey Mancini doubled in Mullins to put the Orioles up 4-0 after two innings. After that, the Rangers couldn’t get much against Voth until the fifth inning. Texas put three straight hits together to load the bases, and Brandon Hyde went to Keegan Akin to replace Austin Voth. Next, Josh Smith hit a flyball to center field to score Nathaniel Lowe, followed by Marcus Semien with a single off of third base to score Mitch Garver. Corey Seager capped off the inning with an RBI single, scoring Brad Miller as the Rangers crawled within 4-3.
For the second straight day in Baltimore, Mitch Garver launched a home run (this time to right field) in a critical moment. The Garver homer tied the game at four. However, the Orioles grabbed the lead right back with five straight baserunners with two outs (walk, single, RBI single, walk, and a two-run single). Anthony Santander singled in Mullins, and Ramon Urias singled in two to put the Orioles up 7-4. Nathaniel Lowe turned around and said "oh really?" He launched a three run right-center field shot to even the game back at seven.
The Orioles answered the answer as Ryan McKenna led off the eighth with a homer to put Baltimore back up 8-7. Then more chaos happened as Corey Seager went deep to center field with Marcus Semien on base. Even more chaos occurred with two outs in the ninth and Rougned Odor homered off Joe Barlow. The Rangers had the bases loaded with one out in the tenth, but Texas couldn't score. In the bottom of the inning with two outs, the Orioles again capitalized. Cedric Mullins hit a liner to the gap in left center to win the game for the Orioles. "With the McKenna homer and the Odor homer with two outs in the ninth inning [it] caught too much of the plate there and something he can pull in the air," Woodward said.
It was a feast or famine game for Spencer Howard. In his four innings, he allowed six hits, four runs, two walks, and two strikeouts. However, he allowed one hit and no runs in the three innings outside the first. Garrett Richards threw two scoreless innings while striking out two on Tuesday. "[Spencer] was okay," Woodward said. "All four of those runs were with two outs. He had a chance to end that inning and left that pitch up to Mateo [and] left a pitch up to Mullins. He couldn't finish those guys off."
Dennis Santana made a tremendous defensive play to retire Jorge Mateo, but after that, all heck broke loose. Santana’s three runs, hits, and walks came with two outs. John King cleaned up the seventh, but allowed the go-ahead homer to start the eighth. King loaded the bases in the eighth, but got a double play to prevent further damage. Joe Barlow came in for the save and retired the first two, but gave up the tying run for his second straight blown save. Matt Moore picked up a few popouts but yielded the winning run on a single as he's tagged with his second straight loss.
Postgame Notes
Josh Smith picked up his first MLB RBI on the fifth-inning sacrifice fly.
Tuesday was the longest outing by Austin Voth since 2020 when he was a starter for the Nationals.
The Rangers are the first team in MLB to have seven players hit 10+ home runs this season.
Spencer Howard’s four innings tie the longest outing as a Ranger. He pitched four innings giving up six hits and four runs on September 24th against the Orioles in Baltimore.
Nathaniel Lowe has a career .333 average in seventeen games and six home runs at Camden Yards.
It’s the second time this season Mitch Garver homered in back-to-back games. On May 24th and 25th at the Angels, Garver homered.
Garrett Richards has thrown five straight scoreless outings (eight innings pitched). Since May 13th, Richards has had a 1.06 ERA (two runs allowed in seventeen innings).
Dennis Santana had gone forty straight outings without walking two batters. He walked two on Tuesday, both with two outs.
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