In the top of the seventh inning, the Rangers were leading the Astros 5-3. They had opportunities to extend their lead in earlier innings, but couldn’t capitalize. They were looking to get some more breathing room and give the bullpen a longer leash.
There were two outs and a runner on first when Langford stepped up to the plate. Ryan Gusto was on the mound and had gone three innings without letting the Rangers to score. Langford was looking to change that and did quickly. Gusto gave him a sinker on the inside of the plate and he absolutely destroyed it sending it into the Crawdad Boxes at 108 miles per hour off the bat. This home run killed any momentum that the Astros had for a comeback. He gave some clarity on this at bat and his day overall. “I went up there and I was seeing the ball really well. I went up there ready to hit.”
Langford went 4 for 5 overall on the day with two RBIs and a run scored. He has been on the fire for the past four games as he is 9 for his last 16, which is good for a .563 batting average. He has two homers with seven RBIs in this span with three walks compared to four strikeouts.
His first hit of the day came in the first inning with an infield single to third that loaded the bases. Evan Carter would deliver as he ripped a two RBI single to right field that was 105 mph off the bat. This would give the Rangers momentum and they wouldn’t look back as they led for the entirety of the game.
Corey Seager and Adolis Garcia were the other players besides Wyatt Langford to have multiple hitters. Seager has been on a hot streak as he has slashed .370/.514/.778 over the last 15 games. He has hit 6 home runs and 14 RBIs with 14 walks and 12 strikeouts. These are Seager’s numbers during his hot stretch.
Adolis Garcia continues to owe Houston as he hit a home run to centerfield in the third inning to extend the Rangers lead to 3-1. Predictably as he rounded the bases, the boos rained down. He is still the villain to Astros fans due to him dominating them in the 2023 ALCS.
Jack Leiter didn’t have his best start, but he did enough for the Rangers to win. His final line was three runs allowed in 5.1 innings on five hits with four walks and racking up six strikeouts. Those numbers don’t jump off the page and you can tell that Leiter didn’t have his command with four walks, but he buckled down and made pitches when he needed to.
The Astros went 1 for 8 with RISP. A big moment happened in the bottom of the fifth. Victor Caratini had homered off Leiter in the previous inning and cut the Rangers’ lead to two. Taylor Trammell led off with a double and it seemed like the wheels off for Leiter. He would get Isaac Parades to fly out and Cam Smith who had walked twice before, to strike out.
Then he would walk Jose Altuve to bring the go ahead run to the plate in the form of Christian Walker. Walker has been crushing the ball over his last seven games with a slash line of .438/.455/.625 with two home runs and nine RBIs. Leiter would need to be careful when working to him.
He started out by painting a pair of 4 seamers on the outside edge of the plate, then tried to get a chase with 4 seamer in the dirt. He put Walker away with a changeup up and away that froze Walker and got Leiter out of trouble. While, Leiter did not have the best game statistically he was able to get out of trouble and limit damage.
The bullpen was great holding Houston scoreless. The combination of Armstrong, Milner, Martin and Garcia pitched 3.2 innings allowing three hits with no walks and struck out four. It is nice to see this bullpen get back on track after those rough games against the Angels. The Rangers are going to need more games like this from them if they want to get into the playoff picture.
Jacob deGrom will start for the Rangers tonight will be opposed by Framber Valdez. This will present a real test for the Rangers offensive outbreak to see if it is real or just a flash in the pan. The game will be at 6:35 pm on Fox.
