Latest news with #ANAHEIM
Washington Post
17 hours ago
- Sport
- Washington Post
Eovaldi outduels Soriano in the Rangers' 6-3 victory over the Angels
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Nathan Eovaldi limited Los Angeles to a run in seven innings, Adolis García hit a two-run homer in the eighth and the Texas Rangers beat the Angels 6-3 on Wednesday night. Eovaldi (9-3) helped the Rangers avoid a series sweep and snap the Angels' three-game winning streak. He allowed six hits and struck out four.
New York Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Rangers' long-awaited win streak has finally arrived, right when they needed it most
ANAHEIM, Calif. — It has always felt like the Texas Rangers were just one win streak away. Such is the expectation for a team that went from a World Series championship in one season to a sub-.500 record the next. They should be better. 'We felt that way,' agreed manager Bruce Bochy. That's what the organization has told itself so many times over the last season and a half. Winning is inevitable, even as it's been elusive. Advertisement After all, the Rangers are not worse on paper than the club that won that aforementioned ring. But they've consistently fallen far below their lofty standards in the nearly two years since winning it all. That long-awaited win streak has finally come to pass, as the Rangers have been baseball's hottest team following the All-Star break. And, quite frankly, they've done it at the perfect time. Texas was 8.5 games out of the American League West lead and 3.5 games back of a wild-card spot on July 18 — firmly in sell territory amid a crowded field. The Rangers are a half-game back of a playoff spot after their six-game winning streak was snapped Monday. As teams like the Rays and Guardians have faded, the Rangers have surged. And this has quite possibly shifted the front office's outlook on whether 2025 is a year worth fighting for. '(Chris Young), I feel like he's always looking to make the team better,' said Rangers ace Nathan Eovaldi of the team's top baseball operations executive. 'It's up to them with what they decide they want to do. I feel like with the guys we have right now, we have a good chance of going out there and proving a lot of people wrong.' It's been offense that's gotten Texas out of its deep slump. The Rangers have the best run differential of any team in July, outscoring opponents 127-67 after Monday's game in Anaheim. Pitching has kept Texas in the mix most of the season, with Jacob deGrom, Eovaldi and Tyler Mahle all pitching to sub-3.00 ERAs. However, offense was always supposed to be this team's identity, even when it wasn't producing. The decline, across the board, was almost inexplicable last season. They had a clubhouse full of star players with track records — some of whom developed into stars in real time, during their playoff run. Marcus Semien's offensive production fell off in 2024, as he posted a sub-.700 OPS for the first time in a full season. Jonah Heim, who looked like a budding stalwart behind the plate, saw his OPS dip from .755 in 2023 to .602 last season. Adolis Garcia, despite taking more at-bats in 2024 than the year prior, still hit 14 fewer home runs. Advertisement Those players have also been the backbone of the resurgence. Semien hit a walkoff single on Saturday. Garcia has a .766 OPS over the last month, after entering that stretch with a .646 mark. Everyone's stepping up. 'That's life, it's like that,' Garcia said. 'Sometimes you have to go through something that makes you get better. We never got frustrated, we focused on continuing to believe.' If the Rangers do decide to add before Thursday's 6 p.m. ET deadline, the Competitive Balance Tax threshold could play a role in how they go about making deals. Their current payroll against the tax is estimated to be nearly $235 million according to FanGraphs, while the CBT threshold this season is $241 million. The club did pay the tax in 2023 and 2024, so it will likely be incentivized to stay below the line this year, particularly if it's close. What's most important, however, isn't what the Rangers add. It's that they've likely removed the risk that Young will substantively subtract from the roster. They have a team capable of competing, with or without major additions. 'This is more who we think we are,' said Bochy. 'It's been a couple years where we didn't have this consistency. But the last couple weeks, it was really critical that we would come out of it.' For so long, this team couldn't rely on the players it needed to rely on the most. But because of those players' career track records, it also fostered the hope that, at some point, there'd be the course correction that's currently taking place. It would have been fair for Young to look at his roster, amid a second straight floundering season, and believe that this wasn't working. The winning streak came just in the nick of time to avoid going down that path to a sell-off. Perhaps the winning streak is masking some of the fundamental flaws of this roster. Or, perhaps, the resurgence has finally come. The winning streak, at the very least, will allow them the chance to find out. Advertisement 'I think any team will say that when you're hovering in that, 'Are they in this?' It was critical that we played well,' Bochy said. 'Now the decisions from the front office, ownership, it makes it a lot easier for them.' (Top photo of the Rangers celebrating a win over Atlanta on Saturday: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)
Associated Press
3 days ago
- Sport
- Associated Press
Angels get to deGrom and stop Rangers' 6-game win streak with 6-4 victory
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Kevin Newman, Taylor Ward and Luis Rengifo homered to help the Los Angeles Angels beat Texas 6-4 on Monday night, snapping the Rangers' six-game win streak. Kenley Jansen pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 19th save. The 37-year-old Jansen hasn't allowed an earned run in 16 consecutive appearances, the longest active streak in the American League and the third-longest of his career. Connor Brogdon (2-1) replaced Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz in the fifth and gave up one run in 1 2/3 innings. Kochanowicz, called up from Triple-A Salt Lake earlier in the day, allowed two runs — none earned — in 4 2/3 innings. Newman's two-run shot opened the scoring in the third, and Zach Neto added an RBI double in the fifth. Josh Jung hit a solo homer and Jonah Heim had an RBI single for the Rangers. Josh Smith and Corey Seager scored when Adolis García reached on an error by right fielder Gustavo Campero, who bobbled a routine flyball. Jacob deGrom (10-3), who was 6-0 in his previous 10 starts, gave up five runs and seven hits with eight strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner has allowed at least one home run in five consecutive games in the same season for the first time in his 12-year career. Key moment Ward's leadoff homer in the sixth gave the Angels the lead for good, and Rengifo added a two-run drive off reliever Jacob Webb to make it 6-3. Key stat The Angels, who beat Seattle 4-1 on Sunday, have won back-to-back games for the first time since defeating Arizona on July 11 and 12. Up next Patrick Corbin (6-7, 3.78 ERA) is scheduled to pitch for Texas on Tuesday against Yusei Kikuchi (4-7, 3.23) in the middle game of the series. ___ AP MLB:
Forbes
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Nine Inch Nails Launches A Comeback With A New Top 10 Hit
Nine Inch Nails scores a top 10 debut on Billboard's Dance Digital Song Sales chart with 'As Alive ... More As You Need Me to Be' from the Tron: Ares soundtrack. ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 09: Music group Nine Inch Nails members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross appear at the Disney Entertainment Showcase at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event in Anaheim, California on August 09, 2024. (Photo byfor Disney) Nine Inch Nails has become something of a side project for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, the only two current official members of the industrial rock group. Reznor rose to stardom with the outfit in the '90s, pioneering new sounds and showing millions how to express their angst through music, but lately, Ross and Reznor have been more focused on scoring TV and film, where they've been hugely successful, winning major honors such as Emmys, Grammys, and Academy Awards. The two reformed Nine Inch Nails to tour and compose the score for Tron: Ares, the upcoming new film in the Tron universe. The first single from that project, which was released only a few weeks before the movie itself hits theaters, brings the band back to the top 10 on a Billboard chart. "As Alive As You Need Me to Be" Arrives On July 17, Nine Inch Nails released "As Alive As You Need Me to Be," the first single from the Tron: Ares soundtrack. Anticipation for new music from the now-duo was extremely high, as it had been announced some time ago that the group was going to release music for the film under that moniker. Fans of Nine Inch Nails — as well as both Reznor and Ross — didn't disappoint. The single opens at No. 10 on the Dance Digital Song Sales chart. Nine Inch Nails Earns a New Top 10 Hit Nine Inch Nails has only ever reached Billboard's list of the bestselling dance tracks in the United States twice, and both cuts have spent time inside the top 10. In December 2010, "Closer" debuted, but it wasn't until June 2021 — 11 years later — that it reached its all-time peak of No. 5. That cut has spent just over a year on the list. This week, "As Alive As You Need Me to Be" joins it inside the top 10, but just barely. Nine Inch Nails Joins Blackpink and Madonna Three tracks debut on the Dance Digital Song Sales chart this week, and Nine Inch Nails earns the lowest launch of the bunch. Blackpink's "Jump" starts at No. 1, while Madonna's "Gone Gone Gone (Original Demo Version)" opens at No. 8. A Single Years in the Making "As Alive As You Need Me to Be" is Nine Inch Nails' first single of its own since 2018, when "God Break Down the Door" was pushed from the album Bad Witch. The group has released music since then, including a pair of albums and a collaboration with the American industrial outfit Health, but this Tron: Ares single is easily the most exciting bit of news in the Nine Inch Nails world in some time.
Washington Post
5 days ago
- Sport
- Washington Post
Seattle's Cal Raleigh calls his 40th homer 'a cool milestone' during the catcher's historic season
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Cal Raleigh reached another landmark in his incredible season Saturday night when he drilled his 40th home run deep into the right field bleachers at Angel Stadium. Becoming the seventh catcher in major league history to hit 40 homers has been all but inevitable for Raleigh ever since the Seattle Mariners slugger got to the All-Star break with 38 — and then won the Home Run Derby .
