SURPRISE, Ariz. — The Rangers sustained a last at-bat loss to the Angels on Monday afternoon in Surprise, 12-11. The back-and-forth affair, played in cool and wet conditions due to afternoon rain/drizzle in the area, lasted a spring-high 3 hours, 48 minutes. The offense totaled at least 15 hits for the 3rd time in the exhibition season, going 7-for-18 with runners in scoring position. Hunter Pence produced a multi-hit game for a second straight day while playing the field for the first time this spring. Pence went 2-for-3 with a tiebreaking solo home run in the 3rd inning, a long ball which gave Texas a lead it would hold until the 7th. He is now 5-for-6 in the last two games, has hit home runs in 3 straight contests, and now has a team-high 4 long balls this spring. He has a spring slash line of .400/.486/.833/1.319. Shelby Miller allowed one run in 2.2 innings, a run which scored after he exited the game in the 3rd inning. Delino DeShields went 2-for-3, scoring the game’s first run in the 1st inning and hitting an RBI single in the 2nd inning to chase Halos starter Matt Harvey from the game.
Texas batters tagged Harvey for 4 runs in 1.1 innings. Shin-Soo Choo went 1-for-2 with 2 RBI. Joey Gallo’s 2-strike RBI single in the 1st inning opened the scoring in the game, as he has reached safely in 6 straight games at 6-for-18 with 2 walks. Jeff Mathis walked twice and he is now tied for the team lead with 5 walks this spring (also Gallo). Chase d’Arnaud went 1-for-2 with a walk and run scored, as he is batting .429 since he recently began playing in Cactus League games. Zach McAllister pitched 2.0 perfect innings of relief with 2 strikeouts. Preston Beck hit a go-ahead 2-run homer in the 7th inning to give Texas its third lead of the day, part of the Rangers’ 5-run barrage by reserves in the 7th and 8th innings. Texas held leads of 4-0, 6-4, and 11-8 in the loss, as the offense has now scored 8-or-more runs in 3 of the team’s past 4 defeats.
The Rangers are scheduled to play the back end of this day/night split squad date a 9:05 p.m. CT tonight against the Kansas City Royals. The Rangers will start LHP Yohander Méndez (0-1, 9.00) against RHP Homer Bailey (0-0, 0.00). The evening contest marks the first TV broadcast of the spring on FOX Sports Southwest, as Dave Raymond and C.J. Nitkowski will call the game with Sarah Merrifield reporting from field level.
From Rangers PR staff reports