MESA, Ariz. — The Rangers lost to the Cubs, 7-3, on Friday afternoon at Sloan Park in Mesa. Texas trailed throughout after the home team built a 4-run lead in the early innings. Solo home runs by Logan Forsythe, Josh Altmann, and Danny Santana accounted for all of the Rangers’ runs. Forsythe went deep off Cubs starter José Quintana in the 4th inning to cut the Texas deficit to 4-1. Forsythe, who now has 2 long balls this spring, added a single in the 6th inning to finish 2-for-3. He has gone 6-for-18 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI in his last 7 games. Altmann and Santana belted their solo shots in the 8th and 9th innings, respectively.
Santana now has 11 RBI this spring, tied with Rougned Odor for the club lead. Zach McAllister took the loss in his 1st start of the exhibition season, allowing one unearned run in his only inning of work following a pair of errors by the Texas defense. Jeanmar Gómez worked a clean 2nd inning with 2 strikeouts in relief of McAllister. Gómez has a 1.74 ERA (2 ER/10.1 IP) across 9 outings this spring. Patrick Wisdom went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Over the last 4 games, 17 of Texas’ 34 total hits have gone for extra bases. Matt Davidson made his 1st ‘A’ game pitching appearance and allowed 3 runs in a 7th inning that saw the Cubs extend their advantage to 6-1.
Back in Surprise, Joey Gallo went 1-for-2 with a 2-run home run and 2 walks in 4 plate appearances for Nashville (AAA) against Oklahoma City (Los Angeles Dodgers AAA) on Field 6.
The Rangers host the Milwaukee Brewers at 2:05 p.m. CT on Saturday in Surprise. LHP Mike Minor (0-1, 3.97) is scheduled to start for Texas against Milwaukee RHP Burch Smith (1-0, 11.57).