Rangers 7, Phillies 0
ARLINGTON, Texas, June 21 — The Texas Rangers started their home stand off nicely on Tuesday, by beating the Philadelphia Phillies by a final score of 7–0. Fans have Nathaniel Lowe and Jonah Heim to thank for that. The Phillies put up as much of a fight as they could, but the absence of Bryce Harper due to an infected finger, was noticeable. Wednesday afternoon marks the finale of this short two-game set. Right-hander Zack Wheeler (6–3, 2.69 ERA) will start for the Phillies. The Rangers, meanwhile, will send Jon Gray (2–3, 4.27 ERA) to the mound in the 3:05 PM Central start.
Rangers Get Homer Happy
As a team, the Rangers sent four pitches over the fence at Globe Life Field on Tuesday. The Phillies just did not have an answer to their offense. The first of those home runs came in the bottom of the fifth inning. Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe hit a line drive over the wall in center field to make it 1–0. That was off Phillies starter, and former Ranger Kyle Gibson. The very next batter was Jonah Heim. He immediately hit a solo shot into the seats in right field. Coincidentally, this was the ninth home run of the season for Heim. The homer that Lowe hit moments earlier was also his ninth of the year. It also marked the fourth time this year that the Rangers have hit back-to-back home runs.
With the score 2–0 in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Rangers got their third run of the evening on an RBI single by Corey Seager. This base hit drove in Marcus Semien. Semien provided some of the offense for Texas as well. He hit his seventh home run of the season in the bottom of the eighth inning, with Leody Taveras on base at the time. This stretched their lead out to 5–0. Their fourth and final home run came moments later. It came off the bat of Kole Calhoun, and it drove in Adolis Garcia as well. This gave the Rangers a 7–0 lead, and that would be all the offense they needed to get the best of the Phillies on this hot night in Arlington.
Pitching Notes
Left-hander Martin Perez got the start for Texas on Tuesday. Perez put together another very good outing. He pitched six innings. He only gave up six hits, and three walks. Perez also struck out six. It was good enough to earn him his fifth win of the year. Perez’ record for 2022 now sits at 5–2, with an earned run average of 1.96. It was his 11th quality start of the year, tying him with Framber Valdez of the Houston Astros, and Alek Manoah of the Toronto Blue Jays for the AL lead. There was no save recorded.
Kyle Gibson was saddled with the loss, despite turning in his third quality start of the season. His record now sits at 4–3, with an ERA of 4.06. He pitched 6 1/3 innings, and gave up three runs, all earned, on seven hits. Two of those hits were home runs. He didn’t walk anybody, and he struck out four batters. It was a bit of a rude welcome for the former Ranger. On the other side, however, it was a very good win for Texas.
Main Photo:
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Players Mentioned:
Nathaniel Lowe, Jonah Heim, Bryce Harper, Zack Wheeler, Jon Gray, Kyle Gibson, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Leody Taveras, Kole Calhoun, Adolis Garcia, Martin Perez, Framber Valdez, Alek Manoah
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