July 15, 2022 - Game 88
W - Robbie Ray (8-6)
L - Taylor Hearn (4-6)
S- None
HR: TEX: Seager (22), Taveras (3); SEA: Rodríguez (16)
Time of Game: 3:09
Game Recap
Entering Friday, the Rangers had plans for a mini-bullpen game. They called up Taylor Hearn while sending Josh Sborz back to Round Rock with the idea of having Taylor Hearn and AJ Alexy pitch. The Rangers started the game with Matt Bush (an opener) and then had Taylor throw a bulk of the work, followed by Alexy, per Chris Woodward. Meanwhile, the Seattle Mariners threw their opening day starter, Robbie Ray, on the hill against a Rangers offense, who are struggling past the first inning the past two nights. The Rangers haven't succeeded in games using openers, losing five of six in 2022. "[Robbie Ray] was on," Rangers manager Chris Woodward said about Ray's performance. "Guys were looking trying to hit his fastball, but couldn't get to it."
Offenses were quiet for the first three innings. Though in the fourth, the Mariners got to Taylor Hearn. After Hearn struck out Jesse Winker, Seattle put together three straight hits, including an Adam Frazier RBI single. After Frazier's single, Justin Upton hit a grounder that went under the glove of Charlie Culberson, scoring Cal Raleigh, and Julio Rodríguez drove in a run on a single. However, on the Rodríguez single, Elier Hernandez threw out Justin Upton at the plate, keeping the Mariners' lead to 3-0 at least through four. "That was awesome," Taylor Hearn said about Elier's outfield assist. "Playing with him in Triple-A when I was down there, I was so happy when he got the call. He's such a great person. He was doing the same thing in Triple-A."
In the fifth, Seattle added another run with a sacrifice fly by Eugenio Suárez, extending the lead to 4-0. The Rangers got on the board in the sixth inning. Corey Seager launched a solo home run 431 feet to center field, cutting the deficit to 4-1.
The Rangers crawled within one run on a two-run home run by Leody Taveras. Leody snuck it right over the right-field corner near the foul pole. In the eighth inning, the Mariners had the bases loaded and none out. José Leclerc struck out Dylan Moore and Sam Haggerty, but Julio Rodríguez hit a 3-2 fastball to dead center field for a grand slam, extending the Mariners lead to 8-3. The Rangers couldn't get any momentum back and dropped the first two to the Seattle Mariners.
Matt Bush's opener outing went smoothly. Bush gave up a base hit with two outs but took care of Seattle's top-of-the-lineup. After that, Taylor Hearn had a nice comeback to the Majors. In four innings, Hearn allowed four runs (two earned due to the error), five hits, two walks, and seven strikeouts. [I] felt great," Hearn said. "Gave up the runs but other than that felt great. [I] took a lot away of this, but felt great."
AJ Alexy pitched two decent innings, but his third inning he allowed a single and two walks. Alexy couldn't record an out in the eighth as he allowed three runs in two plus innings. José Leclerc came in to try to salvage what was a one-run game. He allowed a grand slam but got Ty France to ground out. In the ninth, Leclerc struck out two and walked one. "[José] put his butt on the line for us there," Chris Woodward said. "Lerclerc did a good job trying to get us out of a tough spot, bases loaded and nobody out. I love the warrior in him. He tried to give us everything he had [but] was one pitch short."
Postgame Notes
Mariners extended their winning streak to eleven games with Friday's win.
Taylor Hearn set an MLB season high (and tied a career-high) with seven strikeouts, despite entering the game in the second inning. Hearn struck out seven and nine in his two Triple-A outings.
Friday marks the fourth time Matt Bush pitched as an opener. The Rangers have used for one game each month of the season (April 15th, May 11th, June 10th, and July 15th).
Since June 27th, Leody Taveras is 20 for 48 (.417) with three home runs and six doubles.
Elier Hernandez picked up his first outfield assist of 2022. However, he didn't have an outfield assist in the twenty-eight games he played in Round Rock this season.
The Rangers snapped Robbie Ray's streak of six straight starts allowing one run or less. The last start Ray allowed three or more runs was June 6th at Houston.
Corey Seager extends his streak to eight straight games with at least one run batted in. It's the longest streak by any American League player and second longest next to Francisco Lindor of the Mets. Lindor had ten straight games (May 22nd – June 1st) with at least one RBI.
Rangers had one at-bat with a runner in scoring position. It came in the second inning after Leody Taveras' double. Elier Hernandez struck out to end the second.
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