After taking consecutive losses to start the second half of the season, the Texas Rangers picked up back-to-back victories, including a series-opening, extra-inning win against the visiting Chicago White Sox on Monday.
The series in Arlington, Texas, continues on Tuesday, with the White Sox attempting to shake an eight-game losing streak. Chicago is 0-4 since the break.
Texas enters the contest four games below .500, an unexpected spot at this point of the year for the reigning World Series champions. On the plus side, the Rangers got a run in the ninth inning and another in the 10th to pull out a 4-3 win on Monday.
“Absolutely,” Rangers catcher Jonah Heim, who singled home the tying run in the ninth, said when asked if the victory could be a turning point or a momentum-builder. “We played an all-around good game. Obviously, we made a couple of mistakes here and there, but that’s baseball.
“I think this team has what it takes to do what we did last year and it just takes a couple hits here and there and a couple zeros to get going. (Monday) was a really good team win. Let’s see how we bounce (Tuesday).”
Chicago was in position for a victory on Monday despite striking out 17 times as a team, but its bullpen broke down once again.
The White Sox were one strike away from holding off the Rangers before Heim’s clutch hit off John Brebbia.
“I told our staff if we keep doing the same things over and over again, that’s not in our best interest,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “We’ll start matching up (pitchers) depending on rest and who’s available to give us certainly more than an inning.”
The Rangers are slated to roll with Jon Gray on Tuesday, while Garrett Crochet is expected to start for the White Sox.
Gray (4-4, 3.96 ERA) will be making his first start in two weeks. He made a relief appearance and pitched a scoreless inning in the Rangers’ 9-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Friday. Before that, he got a win against the Los Angeles Angels in a July 8 start, where he gave up three runs on five hits while striking out two and allowing one walk in five innings.
In his lone career outing against the White Sox, Gray gave up one run and three hits while striking out 10 batters in a no-decision on June 12, 2022.
Crochet (6-6, 3.02 ERA) also will be facing his opponent for the first time in several years. He last pitched against the Rangers in 2021, his first full major league season. He was a reliever back then, and he tossed a combined 3 2/3 scoreless innings across two appearances against Texas.
The left-hander, who has been a bright spot for the struggling White Sox, will be making his first start since his first All-Star Game appearance. He threw a scoreless inning for the AL All-Stars last week.
Crochet enters Tuesday with an American League-best 150 strikeouts, the second most in the majors behind the 159 compiled by the San Diego Padres’ Dylan Cease.
Crochet is 0-1 in his past six outings despite logging a 2.27 ERA in that span.
