Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy hopes a strong start to the month of June will help his team rediscover its identity.
After struggling over the last three weeks of May, Texas saw its offense come to life on Saturday, and it will search for a repeat performance on Sunday afternoon in the rubber match of a three-game series with the host Miami Marlins.
The Rangers averaged just 2.9 runs in the 18 games leading up to Saturday’s 7-0 drubbing of Miami, going 5-13 during that span.
Bochy said it felt as if Texas had “lost a little bit of swagger,” but he was glad to see it make an appearance again.
“We need to get that (swagger) back,” Bochy said of the defending World Series champs. “Everything has to do with success. When guys aren’t doing what they are used to doing, you have to remind them how good they are. It can get away from you. This game can humble you.
“We’ve not quite played up to our standards. The offense wasn’t up to our standards. It left us for a little bit.”
Left-hander Andrew Heaney (1-6, 4.47 ERA) will rely on the Rangers’ bats in an effort to get his first win of the season as a starter.
Heaney was 0-6 before his breakthrough on Tuesday, when he came away with a victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks after logging 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief in the 4-2 game.
In his one previous start against the Marlins, Heaney earned the win, keeping Miami off the scoreboard while scattering four hits across 5 2/3 innings last Aug. 6.
Fellow southpaw Trevor Rogers (1-6, 5.65 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Marlins on Sunday.
Rogers was tagged with the loss in six of his first eight starts of the season but has since settled down. He has gone 1-0 with a 3.21 ERA across his past three outings, most recently logging 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball against the San Diego Padres on Monday.
San Diego ended up winning that game 2-1, and Rogers, who yielded six hits, did not factor into the decision.
Sunday will mark Rogers’ second career start against Texas. He hasn’t faced the Rangers since Sept. 12, 2022, when he settled for a no-decision after giving up two runs and four hits in 6 1/3 innings in the Miami loss.
Following a six-game stretch in which it totaled just 10 runs, Miami was seemingly turning a corner when it racked up 16 hits in Wednesday’s 9-1 win over the Padres before collecting 12 during Friday’s series-opening 8-2 victory against Texas.
But then came the shutout.
“First three or four innings, we had some traffic and then hit into a couple double plays,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said of Saturday’s loss. “That was really the only time we had any threats. There just wasn’t much offense.
“Hopefully we can win a series (Sunday).”
Tim Anderson struggled at the plate again for Miami, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts on Saturday. He is just 1-for-17 (.059) over his past five games. The former American League batting champion is hitting just .195 in his first season with the Marlins.
–Field Level Media
