ARLINGTON — Texas Rangers infielder Cody Freeman had barely a beat to celebrate his significant career achievement before teammate Michael Helman had his own.
Freeman and Helman — two rookies who weren’t on the roster as of last week — recorded their first career hit and home run, respectively, on back-to-back pitches in the fifth inning of the Rangers’ 7-2 win vs. the Athletics Monday night at Globe Life Field.
“Helman’s my boy,” Freeman said. “I’m so happy that that happened. Shoutout to him.”
It was the first time in nearly five years that two teammates recorded their first career hit and home run in the same inning. Philadelphia’s Mickey Moniak (first career hit) and Rafael Marchan (first career home run) did so in consecutive plate appearances vs. the Toronto Blue Jays on Sep. 18, 2020, though there were five pitches thrown in between their accomplishments.
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Freeman, a fourth-round pick in the 2019 MLB draft, hit a Jacob Lopez changeup into center field for a double that scored Josh Smith to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead with one out in the fifth. Helman — a 29-year-old rookie that the Rangers claimed off of waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates in May — sent a Lopez slider 407 feet into left field on the very next pitch to make it a 5-1 game.
“I tried my best to give [Freeman] a second,” said Helman, who was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock Monday and didn’t arrive at the ballpark until 6:30 p.m. “He obviously just got his first hit and that’s awesome. I know he probably wanted to make it last as long as he could while he was sitting on second base. I tried to give him a little bit of time but it was a pretty quick turnaround.”
Freeman, 24, made his big league debut as a substitute in Friday’s win vs. the Detroit Tigers and made his first start Sunday on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball vs. reigning Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal. He went 0 for 3 with a strikeout Sunday and said he was “way more relaxed than yesterday” during Monday’s game.
“Praise the lord, that was awesome,” Freeman said. “It’s just one of those moments where I hit the ball and I didn’t know what happened from contact to second base. Once I got on second, fans gave me a standing ‘O,’ and that just meant so much to me.”
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