ARLINGTON – Rangers Pitcher Mike Miner set career highs in wins, innings pitched and strikeouts in a 7-5 victory over the Red Sox Thursday afternoon at Globe Life Park.
A grand slam in the fifth inning by Danny Santana and home runs in the seventh inning by Willie Calhoun And Rough smell were the big blows as Minor picked up his 14th win of the season and finished the year with 208 1/3 innings pitched.
But it was Minor’s 200th out, recorded in the ninth inning against Red Sox infielder Chris Owings, that caused a postgame sensation. Minor’s highly anticipated retirement came after Rangers first baseman Ronald Guzman deliberately dropped a fake pop-up to extend Owings’ at-bat.
This did not sit well with Red Sox manager Alex Cora.
“I don’t know,” Cora said. “I’m just happy our guys are playing the game the right way. We play hard until the end.
Rangers manager Chris Woodward responded by pointing out that the Red Sox were deliberately trying to prevent Minor from getting the final strikeout by swinging at the first pitch. Minor put the team in order in the eighth on just three pitches.
“It’s been heartbreaking as a manager,” Woodward said. “I didn’t like the idea of dropping a pop-up at the end. But on the other side, they hit three straight pitches in the eighth inning trailing by two. So if they have problems with that, obviously, I’m pretty sure Cora did it. They chose not to try to win the game as well, they were trying to stop him from striking out a guy.
Minor was just happy to get the last strikeout. With nine Ks on the afternoon, he joins teammate Lance Lynn (236) as the second group of Rangers pitchers with 200 or more in a single season – Nolan Ryan and Bobby Witt did it in 1990.
“It’s just an accomplishment that I was observing,” Minor said. “I was getting close to the end and a lot of guys were talking about it and Lance accomplished it a long time ago. In the last two matches, I tried to get there, but I had a few failures. Today I got closer and I knew we were a few strikeouts away and I tried to get it.
Minor was nearly pulled in the seventh inning, twice falling short of 200 strikeouts. He took a 5-3 lead into the seventh, but he gave up a leadoff home run to Jackie Bradley Jr. and another one-out long ball to Owings to tie the game. Minor retired Marco Hernandez on a grounder to first, then gave up a single to Juan Centeno.
At that point, Woodward went to the mound to check on Minor and he decided to leave him in the game. Woodward had Emmanuel Clase ready in the bullpen. When Minor walked JD Martinez, Woodward headed to the mound to make a changeup.
But Minor signaled that he wanted one more batter, and Woodward agreed. Minor ended the inning by striking out Sam Travis. At that point, Minor had thrown 117 pitches and Woodward returned him for the eighth.
“I obviously let him go further in games,” Woodward said. “I didn’t want him to throw 120 pitches. Once you get close, I know it’s just a number, but (200 is) a big number, to have two guys accomplish that, it’s a big deal. I thought he deserved it.
That’s when the Red Sox went down on just three pitches. Brock Holt was thrown out by Guzmán, Gorkys Hernandez was thrown out by shortstop Elvis Andrus and Jackie Bradley was out. This upset Woodward and he sent Minor out for the ninth.
“I said you’d go back,” Woodward said. “If they want to do that, you leave. There was no doubt. There were only three throws.
Cora pointed out that Bradley and Owings both homered on the first pitch of their at-bats.
“We had goals in mind, but they didn’t come true,” Cora said. “It’s been two weeks since we were eliminated but we went about it the right way. That’s all I ask. I don’t manage Rangers. That’s a question for Woody over there and he probably has the right answer.
Minor disputed the notion that the Red Sox were simply playing hard.
“I knew what they were doing,” Minor said. “They laughed about it. Brock Holt came out and looked at our dugout and was laughing. It didn’t bother me. I was just, I have to throw a ball out of home plate where they can’t hit it because they were swinging.
Minor led off the ninth by flying out Sandy Leon. Owings took a ball and a strike, then lofted a high pop to the right of the plate that faded a few feet into foul territory. Guzmán and receiver José Trevino had a chance to catch it.
“I looked at Trevi, he looked at me, we looked at where the ball was going to land,” Minor said. “I knew it would be a two-count if he dropped it. So I yelled at Guzie to drop him.
Guzmán forced his pitcher and made an error on the play.
“He deserves it more than anyone else on the team,” Guzmán said. “Honestly, on this play, I was going for it. I wasn’t sure if that would be right or wrong. And when I got closer, I heard the whole stadium telling me to drop it, so I couldn’t do anything else. They made it very difficult for him, swinging at the first pitch every at-bat, no matter how close the game was. I mean, we just had to do what we had to do.
Minor threw one more pitch and Owings took it for strike three. Owings was not happy about this and barked at home plate umpire CB Bucknor as he returned to the dugout.
“It was borderline, but I liked it,” Minor said.
“I’m proud of Mike,” Woodward said. “He’s been great all year, being able to throw that many pitches and every inning he was coming back after the sixth, man, I was like, ‘Are you okay, are you okay?’ In fact, after the fifth one, I wanted to make sure because it was hot outside. It shows how hard this man worked during his offseason to be able to do what he did today. It’s awesome.
