Marcus Semien avoided discussing his recent batting struggles and instead focused on the game at hand. The Texas second baseman emphasized his crucial role in securing a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays with a game-changing swing.
“I had a swing to help us win the game, and that’s all you can ask for as a major league player,” Semien remarked.
After enduring a rough stretch at the plate, going 3-for-42 over ten games, Semien broke through with a significant performance. His 422-foot home run to left-center field off Kevin Kelly in the seventh inning marked his first homer in nearly a month and proved decisive in clinching the series for the Rangers.
“I want to build on that, I don’t want to talk about the struggles,” Semien emphasized. “I want to talk about the good things, like that swing and getting on base, scoring a couple of runs and just doing things that help us.”
Semien’s manager, Bruce Bochy, praised his resilience, acknowledging that every player faces challenging times but trusts they will rebound.
“He’s such a good player, and everybody goes through their times where it’s not quite going well,” Bochy said. “But you know they’re going to come out of it. And that’s the case with Marcus.”
The pivotal homer came after the Rays briefly took a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh inning with Yandy Díaz’s three-run homer off Jacob Latz. Despite the Rays’ efforts, they couldn’t capitalize on Díaz’s hit and now face consecutive losses for the first time since mid-June, leaving 30 runners on base in their last three games.
