25-29 - Rangers snap losing streak with 6-2 finale victory over Minnesota

The Texas Rangers scored six runs while the Minnesota Twins scored two runs.

Long live Gerson Garabito!

Since way back on May 8 when the Rangers scored 12 runs to still only barely eke out a hellacious 12-11 win in the second game of a scheduled doubleheader against the Athletics at Oakland Coliseum, Texas had not scored more than four runs in any of the games that followed, spanning 14 consecutive games.

As you might have noticed, it’s difficult to win games when you score fewer runs in every contest than your previous season’s average tally. Indeed, the Rangers went 2-12 in that stretch to nearly tumble below the Houston Astros for third place in the AL West, even after Houston infamously began this season 7-19.

Today, at last, the Rangers scored six runs and wouldn’t you know it, they won the game and snapped their six-game losing skid and won’t go home completely empty handed from this road trip, as they avoided a second sweep in a row.

The rainmaker today was starting pitcher number a billion on the depth chart, as the Rangers dipped into the reserves of their reserves for an arm that was attached to a man named Gerson Garabito.

Garabito was making one of the more unlikely big league debuts after being out of affiliated ball for much of the last five years before signing a minor league free agent deal with Texas after a decent showing in the Dominican Winter League just a few months back.

After seven appearances — one start with Frisco, four starts and a couple of relief outings with Round Rock — on the farm, and less than two months since the Rangers began the defense of their World Series championship, here was Garabito being tasked with giving Texas an opportunity to win a game when winning games had abandoned them and after he had last thrown more than even 50 IP in a minor league season in 2021.

Ultimately, Garabito made good on the ask. His final line of 3 ²⁄₃ IP, 2 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 2 K isn’t going to get a Disney move made about it, and his inefficiency prevented him from lasting long enough to pick up the victory, but Texas turned to Gerson Garabito because they had no choice and he came out and didn’t allow a hit in his first three big league frames while the bats finally built a winnable lead for a starting pitcher even if that pitcher was someone maybe 10 folks had ever heard of 48 hours ago.

If we were led to believe that the damned doubleheader was the beginning of the end for the Rangers in 2024, with any luck, perhaps we can remember the Gerson Garabito game as the moment that Texas turned things around.

Player of the Game: For as fun as it would be to say that it was Garabito, the obvious and correct answer is Corey Seager who hit two home runs and drove in three of Texas’ six runs as he continues to heat up after a long slump to begin the season.

Up Next: The Rangers get tomorrow off to travel home before starting a brief two-game rematch of the 2023 World Series against the Diamondbacks. Texas will face Game 3 starter Brandon Pfaadt in the opener, while their own starter has yet to be named.

Tuesday evening’s first pitch from The Shed is set for 7:05 pm CT and will be aired on BS Southwest.