Jared Walsh hit a home run in his first turn at bat for Texas after observing his new teammates receive their World Series rings, and the Rangers defeated the Chicago Cubs 11-2 on Saturday night.
Adolis García matched Walsh’s two-run homer in the second inning with a go-ahead shot in the third, and Corey Seager had four singles and two RBIs to aid the defending champions to a 2-0 start.
After playing his initial five seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, Walsh signed a minor league deal and is filling in as first baseman Nathaniel Lowe recovers from a right oblique strain.
Walsh pulled the third pitch he saw with the Rangers into the right-center field seats above the bullpen after Dansby Swanson’s homer gave the Cubs a 2-0 advantage in the second inning.
Walsh and another newcomer, reliever Kirby Yates, teased about not feeling envious as many Rangers happily displayed their rings after receiving them from manager Bruce Bochy in a pregame ceremony.
“I was just a bit envious watching all the ring stuff,” Walsh stated. “I haven’t played in a playoff game yet, and I’m watching all these guys celebrate with the coolest rings I’ve ever seen.” Walsh had three hits and crossed the plate three times.
All three of Chicago’s hits off left-hander Cody Bradford occurred in the second inning. Bradford, a 26-year-old in his second MLB season, recorded two of his six strikeouts over five innings and faced the minimum over his final three frames.
Yates was one of four Texas relievers to pitch a scoreless inning each in a five-hitter, concluded by Brock Burke after the Rangers surged ahead with a six-run eighth inning.
Seager, last season’s World Series MVP, logged his 12th four-hit game, contributing to five consecutive batters who drove in a run in the eighth inning against right-hander Ben Brown, who made his MLB debut.
Marcus Semien had an RBI single before Seager, and Evan Carter added a run-scoring groundout, and García hit a sacrifice fly. Josh Jung’s two-run homer forced Brown out of the game.
The 24-year-old Brown was promoted from Triple-A Iowa after left-hander Justin Steele was placed on the injured list. Steele is anticipated to be sidelined for at least a month after straining his left hamstring during his first opening-day start.
“Baseball is all about resilience,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell remarked about Brown’s outing. “You get knocked down, and you’ve got to get back up. That’s how the game works. It was an outing where we were just trying to get through the game and get his feet wet. Some good hitters made him pay.”
Walsh followed his homer by smashing a double off the center-field wall’s base in the fourth inning and scored on Seager’s third consecutive single for a 5-2 advantage. Kyle Hendricks surrendered five runs and nine hits in 3 2/3 innings.
García didn’t waste any time putting his World Series ring on his finger for the cameras during a pregame ceremony. Then, the reigning AL Championship Series MVP homered for the second time in two games.
