ARLINGTON — Their ironman second baseman can hardly walk and isn’t exactly sure what to do about it even after rounds of tests. Their runway to make a playoff push grows increasingly thin each day. Their ammunition to do much about either does too.
The Texas Rangers have arrived at another problematic juncture in a problematic season.
The Rangers will continue their attempted climb into contention with Marcus Semien, who fouled a pitch off of his left foot in Thursday’s loss to the Kansas City Royals, shelved for at least another week. They placed Semien on the 10-day injured list before Saturday’s 10-0 win vs. the Cleveland Guardians at Globe Life Field and activated right fielder Adolis García in his place. He is eligible to return
Semien, 34, last went on the injured list (which, at the time, went by an entirely different name) when he was a member of the Athletics (who, at the time, played in an entirely different city) with a right wrist contusion on April 15, 2017. He has been a pillar of health and, at times as his manager playfully alludes, stubbornness as it pertains to his incessant availability since.
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This ailment — which forced him to miss Friday’s win vs. the Cleveland Guardians and has kept him in a boot with a limp — even exceeded Semien’s pain tolerance threshold.
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“It’s a freak injury,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “We’re trying to see exactly what it is. We don’t know yet — he had X-rays, they didn’t show a fracture — but you never know underneath.”
His injury was classified Saturday as a “left foot contusion,” but, both he and the Rangers will continue to search for an exact diagnosis. Semien has undergone a X-ray, MRI and CAT scan in the three days since his injury will be evaluated by a foot doctor Sunday to determine a prognosis. He said that the pain in the bottom of his foot has not subsided since Thursday and that the top of his foot “didn’t look great” either.
Semien acknowledged that a Lisfranc injury — in which metatarsal bones are broken or ligaments tear in the middle of the foot — would sideline him “a while” if diagnosed.
“I don’t think I’m going to need surgery,” Semien said, “so I’m just trying to figure out what’s wrong with it.”
The Rangers, in the meantime, will try to figure out how to survive a make-or-break stretch of their season without the ironman second baseman.
“It hurts,” said third baseman Josh Jung, who hit a two-run home run in the third inning vs. Logan Allen. “It’s a blow to the team just in general. It’s just one of your guys. In order to move forward it’s got to be a collective effort. It gives some other guys some opportunities. Hopefully, collectively, we can try to fill that void.”
Bochy played Cody Freeman at second base Saturday and the rookie infielder responded with two hits and his first career home run vs. Allen in the second inning. It gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead and helped spark an offensive onslaught. Freeman celebrated as he rounded the bases and snuck into the hallway in between the dugout and batting cages to savor the moment afterward.
“I’m just happy to be here and help in any possible way,” Freeman said. “Whether I’m in right, second, short, third left, anything to help this team win and make the playoff push.”
Second base may consume most of Freeman’s time. He played the position in high school and briefly in the minor leagues before he transitioned to third base and catcher but said that it’s like “riding a bike.” Infielder Ezequiel Duran, who started at first base Sunday and drove in three runs vs. Allen, also projects to get reps at the position.
It’s uncharted territory for Bochy and his team. Semien had missed just three games this season prior to Saturday and only seven in four seasons with the Rangers. His 835 plate appearances in 2023, totaled between the regular season and playoffs, set a league record. He’s played in a league-high 1,219 games since he returned from his last injured list stint on July 6, 2017 and will play in fewer than 159 games this year for the first time since that season.
He missed only three games last year and battled the side effects of a nasty on-field collision with right fielder Adolis García. He was struck in the side of the face by a fastball last month but remained in that game to hit a walk-off single vs. the Atlanta Braves. He was hit on the wrist last Friday against the Toronto Blue Jays, missed Saturday’s game due to soreness and returned Sunday to hit a home run. He even remained in Thursday’s game after he injured his foot but later admitted that he couldn’t quite run.
“It’s exactly what this team needs,” shortstop Corey Seager said last Sunday of Semien’s toughness. “To watch a guy of his stature and what he’s about, to take a ball on his hand and go out and perform, it’s something guys can definitely look up to.”
Semien, who slashed .230/.305/.364 in his first 127 games this year, was in the midst of the worst offensive season of his career before the foot injury and had only regressed even further since the All-Star break. His defense did not. Semien’s 22 defensive runs saved and 7 outs above average both rank second among American League second baseman.
The Rangers — who began play Sunday with a 5.5 game deficit to erase for the third wild card berth — will be without that until Sept. 1 at the earliest. They’ll play one more game against the Guardians and six against the Los Angeles Angels and Athletics before then.
“You have to say he’s the glue to the infield,” Bochy said. “You’re going to miss all of that. His presence, what he means to this team, yeah, that’s a tough loss.”
He is only the latest. The Rangers placed outfielder Evan Carter — who slashed .273/.407/.409 in his last seven games of action — on the injured list Friday with a season-ending wrist fracture. First baseman Jake Burger, who had a 1.097 OPS in the second half and was one of the club’s hottest hitters, has been sidelined for a week with a wrist sprain and only started a hitting regimen this homestand. Outfielder Sam Haggerty still can’t run because of a second bout with ankle inflammation.
The Rangers have 10 players currently on the injured list. Only three teams in the American League have more and five of those sidelined players — Semien, Carter, Burger, Haggerty and right-hander Cole Winn — were injured on the team’s most-recent road trip to Toronto and Kansas City.
“It’s hit us hard,” Bochy said. “But you’ve got to move on.”
They’ll do so without Semien for now.
They’ll hope it won’t be for good.
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