ARLINGTON — Look, if a Hall of Fame-bound manager can’t get the guy to sit, what makes you think some run-of-the-mill fastball will force Texas Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien to step down from the post he works so tirelessly to hold?
“You can’t take him out,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said Saturday night. “He’s just hard-headed.”
Oh, yeah, that much is now clear.
Semien — nearly two hours after he was struck in the face by a pitch — hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning to clinch the Rangers’ 6-5 win vs. the Atlanta Braves at Globe Life Field. His hit secured a fifth-straight victory for the Rangers and extended a four-series win streak that dates back to before the All-Star break.
Rangers
Related:Watch: Marcus Semien walks it off as Rangers beat Braves to keep hot streak going
“He ended up winning the ballgame after getting smoked,” Bochy said. “I can’t say enough great things about Marcus.”
Before the walk-off came the knock-down. Semien was hit on the right side of his face by a 94.6 mph Grant Holmes fastball in the third inning of what was then a tied game. The 34-year-old second baseman immediately dropped to the ground and held his head in his hands. He was tended to by head athletic trainer Matt Lucero and Bochy by the home plate dirt for several moments before he sat back up.
Semien’s helmet flap prevented what could have been a catastrophic injury when Holmes’ fastball clipped it before it made contact with his cheek.
“I think I got lucky,” Semien said. “I don’t know where it hit me on the helmet. Initially I felt impact on the side of my face. If it got me without the helmet it’d probably be way more painful. Eventually I got up and I was fine.”
Bochy initially believed that there wasn’t “any chance” that Semien would remain in the game after the hit by pitch. Semien passed the on-field concussion tests, though, and was adamant that he was fine. He took first base and scored on an Adolis García single in the next at bat to give the Rangers a 4-2 lead.
“It’ll make you stand up,” Rangers right-handed starter Kumar Rocker said of Semien’s hit by pitch, “but he’s an iron man.”
Semien has played the second-most games in baseball (586) since he signed with the Rangers three-and-a-half years ago. Only Braves first baseman Matt Olsen — who greeted Semien after he was plunked — has played more (589) during that span. He’s missed just one game this season, sat three times last year and played all 162 two years ago when the Rangers marched to a championship.
“What a warrior effort, huh? You get hit in the head like that, there’s not too many guys that’d stay in the game,” Bochy said. “It’s just fitting that he came up there in the situation.”
The situation, which happened just under two hours after Semien was drilled by the fastball, came in the bottom of the 10th inning after the Braves took the lead in the top of the ninth and after the Rangers took it back in the bottom of the ninth.
Atlanta right-handed reliever Enyel De Los Santos intentionally walked shortstop Corey Seager ahead of Semien with ghost runner Josh Smith at second base. Semien swung through the first De Los Santos fastball before he hit the second 102.7 mph into left field to score Smith from second base and secure the team’s first extra innings win since his last walk-off hit vs. the Seattle Mariners on June 28.
“We want to win,” Semien said. “We want to win every night. The team’s playing well and the vibes are good.”
The Rangers played six extra-inning games in the final two weeks of the season’s first half and lost five of them as they sputtered into the All-Star break with a sub-.500 record. It was a reflection of their inability to rally when behind in games (they still have not won a game in which they trailed by a three or more runs) and hit with runners in scoring position (their .661 OPS in those situations was the fifth-worst in baseball through July 13).
The Rangers did both Saturday night. They trailed by two runs through two innings after Rocker (4 IP, 3 ER, 3 BB) struggled to find the strike zone early but tied the game in the second (via an Evan Carter run-scoring triple and a Josh Jung run-scoring single) and took the lead in the third on García’s hit.
The Braves took a 5-4 lead in the top of the ninth when Michael Harris II — who finished with a home run, a double and two triples — led off the inning with a triple that left fielder Wyatt Langford couldn’t track down and scored on a sacrifice fly. The Rangers tied it in the bottom of the ninth after Jung walked, Sam Haggerty pinch ran and Jonah Heim drove him in with a double into right field. Heim began Saturday’s game with a team-high .884 OPS in high-leverage situations for his career.
“Yeah,” Semien said, “he’s got a flare for the dramatic.”
Look who’s talking.
“Look at the numbers,” said right-handed relief pitcher Shawn Armstrong, who threw 35 pitches between the ninth and 10th innings to hold over a thin Rangers bullpen. “He doesn’t sit out much. It’s going to take a lot for him to come out of the lineup. I’m sure glad he’s in it.”
He’ll be there Sunday too.
There might be a bruise.
And a win streak, too.
Watch: Marcus Semien walks it off as Rangers beat Braves to keep hot streak going
Texas won its fifth straight game as it continued its recent surge into the playoff race.
How soon could Rangers’ Jake Burger, Kyle Higashioka return from soft tissue injuries?
Both hitters took swings Saturday in Arlington, but their timelines look vastly different.
Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newsletter.