Rangers Rout White Sox
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CHICAGO — It got to the point where J.P. Arencibia couldn’t believe his eyes in the top of ninth inning Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular Field.
Coming to the plate for the final time in the Texas Rangers’ 16-0 rout of the Chicago White Sox, Arencibia looked out and saw the towering form of Adam Dunn standing on the mound.
Arencibia and the Rangers had already bashed through four Chicago pitchers, so the 6-foot-6, 280-pound White Sox designated hitter made his professional pitching debut — something he’s been asking manager Robin Ventura to do for about two years. He gave up the game’s final run on two hits and a walk.
“Honestly, for me, it’s the worst at-bat in baseball,” said Arencibia, the Rangers’ designated hitter, who weakly lined out to first baseman Jose Abreu for the inning’s second out. “It’s a lose-lose situation. Your adrenaline is at zero and you’re just trying to be as locked in as possible, and you look up there and there’s Adam Dunn, you know, a guy that I’ve watched my whole life growing up, hitting homers and looking up to … and now I’m facing him.”
It was that kind of evening for the Rangers (44-69) and White Sox (55-59), who set season high marks for largest margin of defeat twice in the past three games. Two days after the Minnesota Twins routed the White Sox 16-3 here, the Rangers hit a season-high five home runs and cruised to their largest margin of victory in a shutout in franchise history.
Catcher Robinson Chirinos hit two home runs in a game for the first time in his career, and Texas also
got long balls from third baseman Adrian Beltre, Arencibia and left fielder Shin-Soo Choo.
The home runs were the most in one game for the Rangers since they hit five Aug. 23, 2013 also against the White Sox in U.S. Cellular Field. The run total and margin of victory were the largest for the Rangers this season, topping 14 runs scored (twice) and bettering a 12-0 defeat of the White Sox on April 18 in Texas.
Texas right-hander Colby Lewis (8-8) also had a great game, throwing the second shutout of his career. Both happened in this stadium, with the previous one on May 16, 2011.
“It felt like my location was really good tonight, but the offense definitely made my job a lot easier, that’s for sure,” Lewis said. “Your mentality is, when you have that type of lead you’ve got to go out there and throw strikes. Period. You can’t just go out there and nibble.”
The Rangers (44-69) stormed out to a 7-0 lead in the first two innings and kept going against a battered White Sox pitching staff, which is trying to hold it together until a couple of injured relievers return to the bullpen later this week.
Arencibia went 3-for-5 with a double, a homer and five RBIs, and Chirinos finished 3-for-5. The Rangers got at least one hit from all nine starters in the order.
Chicago left-hander John Danks (9-7) gave up nine runs on eight hits, five walks and four homers in 4 2/3 innings. Since the All-Star break, Danks is 1-1 with a 10.29 ERA in four starts. He has allowed 33 hits in 21 innings during that span, including nine home runs.
“I felt great,” Danks said. “It’s a shame to go out there and get your butt kicked on a night that you feel so good. It doesn’t happen every time out when you feel great and tonight I felt really good about everything in the bullpen and I just got my (butt) kicked.”
As the Twins did Sunday, the Rangers made it a full-on rout in the later innings. Choo’s homer to start the sixth made it 10-0, and Texas scored four more times in the seventh for a two-touchdown advantage, 14-0. They tacked on solo runs in the eighth and ninth for good measure.
The Rangers jumped all over Danks in the first two innings, taking a 7-0 lead.
It started in the first, when right fielder Alex Rios hit an RBI single and Beltre followed with a long two-run homer, his 16th of the season. The first of Chirinos’ two homers started the second, followed by Danks walking the bases loaded and Arencibia making it 7-0 by clearing the bases with a double.
Arencibia homered to start the fifth, followed by Chirinos’ second of the game. That was Danks’ last batter on a forgettable night that ended after 103 pitches.
“Guys were up and they were doing it to everybody, it wasn’t necessarily just him,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said of Danks. “If he’s going to be up and falling behind, things like that, it can happen. Just not a good night all the way around. You get beat up a little bit that way.”
