Audio By Carbonatix
Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor has seen the lowest of lows and the highest of highs. He’s been a Twitter scapegoat and a social media super hero. He’s made Adrian Beltre slap him playfully on the cheek for his second baserunning mistake in one night and sent Rangers fans home in hysterics with a walk-off home run against one of baseball’s best relief pitchers.
Rougned Odor has done all of those things. In fact, he did them all Tuesday night in the Rangers 8-7 comeback win over the Mariners.
Odor’s Tuesday adventure started in the bottom of the third inning. Following a two-run home run from Beltre, Odor attempted to bunt his way on base. Seattle pitcher James Paxton mishandled the bunt and then threw wildly to first and Odor ended up on second base. He then made an ill-advised attempt to steal third and was thrown out easily. Catcher Jonathan Lucroy, at the plate during the steal attempt, would later single. Making the second out of an inning at third base isn’t a cardinal sin, but it was definitely not a good look for the 22-year-old second sacker.
In the bottom of the seventh, after Rangers starter Cole Hamels had coughed up a 4-0 lead, Odor made a far less excusable error. With Beltre on first and the Rangers trailing 6-5, Odor roped a single into right field, he tried to stretch the single into a double, despite Mariners right fielder Shawn O’Malley playing the ball well and was thrown out by 10 feet. Instead of there being runners on first and third with one out, Beltre was left on third by himself. As he stood on third, he glared at Odor like a disappointed Little League manager. After Lucroy singled him home, Beltre returned to the dugout and playfully slapped Odor across the cheek.
This year, make your gift count –
Invest in local news that matters.
Our work is funded by readers like you who make voluntary gifts because they value our work and want to see it continue. Make a contribution today to help us reach our $30,000 goal!
Beltre’s slap worked. After the Mariners took the lead again in the top of the eighth, the Rangers entered the bottom of the ninth trailing 7-6. Beltre led off the inning with a sharp single, leaving Odor to face Seattle’s electric closer, Edwin Diaz, with the tying run on first. What happened next will stick with Rangers fans for a long time.
.@RougnedOdor eats 97 mph fastballs for breakfast: https://t.co/V3hzpr5lp0 #Walkoff? pic.twitter.com/5fTVp2dTbZ
— MLB (@MLB) August 31, 2016
With Odor’s walkoff, the Rangers now lead AL West rival Seattle by 10.5 games heading into Wednesday afternoon’s getaway game. Houston, who leapfrogged Seattle into second place on Monday, trails the Rangers by 8.5 games.
