The Rangers beat the Cubs on Sunday in Surprise, 12-8, to finish the Arizona portion of the spring schedule with a 14-10-3 record. Today’s win was the club’s 8th straight at Surprise Stadium, as Texas posted an overall 10-3-1 mark at the facility in 2021.
Texas scored 4 runs in the 8th inning to break an 8-8 tie, as the club held early leads of 6-0 and 8-2 before relinquishing the advantage after reserves for both teams had entered the game. John Hicks drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI single in the 8th.
The Rangers did most of their damage in the 2nd inning, scoring 6 runs while sending 11 batters to the plate. Joey Gallo capped off the frame with an opposite-field 3-run blast off Juan Gamez to put Texas up 6-0. Gallo is the first Ranger to hit more than 5 home runs in a spring since 2009, when Josh Hamilton hit 7 HR and Nelson Cruz hit 6 HR. Two of the top spring home run hitters were on full display today, as MLB leader Joc Pederson hit his 8th home run for Chicago.
Starter Kohei Arihara (5.0 IP, 3 R-ER) earned his 1st win as a Ranger in his longest outing of the exhibition season, posting a spring-high 6 strikeouts without walking a batter. The right-hander did not allow a runner to reach scoring position until Ian Happ’s double to lead off the 4th, which came two batters before Pederson’s 2-run homer.
Gallo (2-for-2, HR, 3 RBI), David Dahl (2-for-2, R), and Nick Solak (1-for-1, BB, R) reached in each of their plate appearances on the day, with the majority of Texas starters playing only 4 innings. Gallo is 4-for-7 over his last 3 games, upping his spring slash line to .333/.426/.897/1.323. Dahl has hits in 7 of his last 8 games, and Solak (.295 BA) has yet to go consecutive games without a hit this spring. Andy Ibáñez collected a pair of hits, and Adolis García had an RBI double, stole third, and scored a run in the 4th. Anderson Tejeda notched an RBI single to extend his hitting streak to 5 games.
The Rangers will fly home to the DFW Metroplex tonight and close the exhibition slate with a pair of contests against Milwaukee on Monday (7:05 p.m. CT) and Tuesday (1:05 p.m. CT) at Globe Life Field. RHP Jordan Lyles (1-0, 2.57) will take the ball for Texas on Monday against Brewers RHP Adrian Houser (0-0, 8.25).
From Rangers PR staff reports