September 12, 2022 - Game 140
W - Jonathan Hernández (2-2)
L - Steven Okert (5-3)
S- José Leclerc (5)
HR: None
Time of Game: 3:00
Rangers Cowboy Hat Winner: José Leclerc (1st)
Game Recap
Monday was the day everyone around the Rangers dreaded. After Sunday's game, the team hopped on a plane, headed to Miami Sunday night, went to the park early Monday to begin a day/night doubleheader, and finally will leave Miami Monday night. "We have to embrace it and take one game at a time," Tony Beasley said. "We know it's a long day, and we know what lies ahead, so we mentally prepared ourselves for this. We're going to embrace, have fun with today, get back home, and do it again tomorrow." Glenn Otto took the mound for the Rangers after a four-inning start where he battled to limit the Astros to two runs. Trevor Rogers got the ball for the Marlins, coming off a couple of quality outings against the Phillies and Rays. It was the Rangers' first look at Rogers on Monday.
Both teams had two baserunners for the first four innings, and none reached second base. In the first inning, Nathaniel Lowe singled to left field. In the second, Sam Huff walked. For Miami, Jerar Encarnación walked in the third inning, and the first base hit came in the fourth with Brian Anderson's single to left. Otto ran into issues in the fifth. The inning began with a hit-by-pitch that clipped Miguel Rojas. An errant throw moved Rojas to second as Jacob Stallings walked. Next, a wild pitch moved the runners over, then a sacrifice fly by Lewin DÃaz scored Rojas. Jon Berti singled to left to score Stallings to put the Marlins up 2-0. Miami threatened with two on the sixth, but Stallings grounded out to Marcus Semien to keep the game in check for the Rangers.
The Rangers got to Rogers in the seventh inning as Adolis GarcÃa doubled with one out. Mark Mathias followed with a walk, and Josh Jung hit a scorching shot to center field. JJ Bleday hopped but missed the ball, which rolled away, scoring GarcÃa. "I don't see [Josh Jung] be overwhelmed or worried about it," Beasley said. "You just play a game and take it one AB at a time." Texas tied the game on a Sam Huff RBI groundout scoring Mathias. With two outs in the eighth, the Rangers loaded the bases on two walks and a single. Then, on a 3-2 pitch, Mathias drew a bases-loaded walk to give the Rangers their first lead of the day at 3-2. "It was good because a lot of those guys especially GarcÃa and Mathias were hitters counts, and sometimes you can get too excited in those moments and try to do too much," Tony Beasley said. "They both stayed in the zone, stayed stingy, and allowed themselves to draw base on balls." Miami had two on with two out as Rojas grounded out on a challenged play and it was upheld, the Marlins did not score. It was a quick and painless ninth inning for the Rangers and they held on to win.
Glenn Otto started exceptionally strong on Monday. He allowed two baserunners and threw forty-four pitches in the first four innings of the day. However, he slightly lost command, hit two batters, walked one batter, and allowed two hits in the last two innings. Otto went six, throwing forty-six pitches in the final two innings. "[I] wanted to establish the inside part of the plate to open up that outer half of the slider, so [it] worked pretty well," Otto said. "A good team win, a lot of other great plays behind me. Smithy with a couple of big grabs in left field."
Jonathan Hernández had a quick and efficient seventh throwing seven pitches to retire three outs. However, ran into small issues in the eighth with two singles and a walk (induced a double play). Hernández couldn't finish the eighth and went 1.2 innings Monday. Matt Moore finished the eighth inning inducing a groundout to preserve the lead. José Leclerc finished the ninth by retiring the side in order and getting the save.
Postgame Notes
The thirteen hit batters by Glenn Otto puts him second in the American League behind Alex Manoah and sixth in MLB.
Nathaniel Lowe's .358 batting average is the highest as a left-hander vs. left-handing pitching. The .358 is fourth overall in MLB.
The Rangers clinch a winning record against the National League in 2022 (2-0 vs. MIA, 1-3 vs. COL, 2-1 vs. ATL, 1-2 vs. NYM, 4-0 vs. PHI, and 1-2 vs. WSH).
Monday was the first outing of six innings and three runs or less for Glenn Otto since August 15th vs. Oakland (four starts of less than six innings).
Adolis GarcÃa has three extra-base hits in as many games. In the previous seven games of September, Adolis had two extra-base hits.
In his four MLB games, three of the four hits for Josh Jung are extra base hits.
Mark Mathias has six walks in his last seventeen plate appearances. Mathias has one walk in his first seventy-eight MLB plate appearances.
Bubba Thompson is 6 for his last 14 including four stolen bases in that span.
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