Texas Rangers’ Marcus Semien responds to slump with game-winning homer vs. Rays

ARLINGTON – How deep has Marcus Semien’s slump been over the past month:

Before Saturday’s game, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy acknowledged that he had at least had some conversations about taking Semien out of the leadoff spot for a while. And after the game, a 4-3 win over Tampa Bay that turned things around with Semien’s two-run homer with two outs in the seventh inning, the Rangers second baseman wouldn’t talk about the relief he’d felt. Some things are better left unsaid.

“I had a swing that helped us win a match,” Semien said. “I don’t want to talk about the problems. We want to stay positive. Talking about the problems is not going to help us get out of the hole we’re in. I did some things to help us win a match today. I want to do things that will help us.”

So, yes, in other words, he’s had that in mind.

Semien entered Saturday on a 7-for-72 (.097) skid over the previous 17 games during which the AL All-Star voting was turning against him. Bochy sat him on Thursday, which is a first since he had started 349 consecutive games at one point before a collision with Adolis Garcia in May. When he doesn’t start, it’s news. If he’s not the Rangers’ leadoff hitter, it would be even bigger news. Every one of his starts since July 21, 2022, for the Rangers has been as the leadoff hitter. That, of course, includes every game he’s played with Bochy.

The offense, though, has been a mess all season. And Semien has struggled to adjust to pitchers working against him more and more frequently. Trying to get those early fastballs out has led to a lot of groundballs. His 38.3% groundball rate entering Saturday’s game was his highest since 2019. Then, on the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning Saturday, he grounded out to third base on a fastball.

This has led to a .280 OBP when leading off an inning, seventh-worst among the 30 hitters with at least 100 such plate appearances. The same when he starts a game. He entered Saturday tied with San Diego’s Luis Arraez for the most plate appearances (86) starting a game and with the seventh-lowest OBP (.279) among the 26 players who started at least 40 times. These are definitely not ideal numbers for a leadoff hitter.

“Marcus and I have talked about it,” Bochy said. “But I see what this guy has done for this team. You have to remember what he has done. And we have been very bad. Right now, I would rather leave him there. If I thought it would help us, we would change him. We are all going to go through difficult times. It is up to us to overcome them.”

On Saturday, Semien twice hit third on the first pitch, but he also passed up enough wild pitches from Taj Bradley to start the third inning and draw a walk. He then scored on Nathaniel Lowe’s single to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead.

It stayed that way until the seventh inning, when Jacob Latz allowed a two-out, three-run homer to Yandy Diaz. Among their other flaws this season, the Rangers have not been what you’d call a comeback team. They were 3-39 when trailing after seven innings and had been outscored 64-18 in the seventh. They had lost a lot of games in the seventh.

But with two outs, off Kevin Kelly, Semien pulled off a surprise: a 1-0 sinker that rose and went in. The pitcher sent it 105 mph into the left-field seats to give the Rangers the lead again. It was his first homer since June 9. It’s been a long time.

“It’s been difficult to get the ball in the air to the shooting side the way I like,” Semien said, momentarily breaking his ban on discussing what went wrong.

Bochy said: “He worked hard on the day off. It was a good day to recover. Everyone is going to go through tough times. You know they are going to get through them.”

The Rangers need him out of this situation. Like now.

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