The Texas Rangers are pulling every lever to get offense. That means catcher Logan O'Hoppe had to come to Arlington.
Less than a month after acquiring him in a trade from the Los Angeles Angels and optioning him to Triple-A Round Rock, the Rangers (65-66) called him up to face his former team on Sunday in an attempt to boost an offense that scored eight runs in five games and somehow won three of them.
The Rangers didn't use O'Hoppe behind the plate. They started Elias Diaz , who has been terrific behind the place since joining the Rangers in June. Texas put O'Hoppe seventh in the order and used him at designated hitter as it was facing Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi , which ruled out using Joc Pederson at DH.
O'Hoppe's split against left-handed pitching are solid this season. His knowledge of catching Kikuchi since the start of last season came in handy.
He needed only one pitch to get his first hit as a Rangers player. He hit Kikuchi's 86.1 mph slider on the lower right portion of the plate to left field for a single. Texas was already staked to a 1-0 lead after Ezequiel Duran 's leadoff home run in the second inning. O'Hoppe wasn't at first base long.
The next batter, Cody Freeman , tripled to center field and scored O'Hoppe from first base to make it a 2-0 game. Freeman later scored on a sacrifice fly by Diaz to make it 3-0.
O'Hoppe finished the game 1-for-2 with a run before he left the game when Texas pinch-hit Pederson for him after the Halos changed Kikuchi out for a right-hander.
O'Hoppe entered the game slashing just .209/.271/.295 with four home runs and 23 RBI with the Angels this season. The Rangers optioned him to Round Rock because they wanted him to work on his defense. Meanwhile his bat caught fire. In 18 games with the Express he slashed .292/.386/.556 with three home runs and 20 RBI.
Texas is hoping they get the Express hitter down the stretch. With the amount of versatility the Rangers have in the field, they could continue to use this alignment against left-handers to get O'Hoppe's bat in the order more often. Looking ahead to the Rangers' next series against the Chiago White Sox there is at least one left-handed probable - Anthony Kay on Tuesday.
The Rangers don't need O'Hoppe to be a catcher right now. Between Diaz and Danny Jansen , the Rangers have the plate covered. With third baseman Josh Jung out with a calf injury, the offense has clearly suffered. Texas needs any offensive boost it can get.
If Texas gives him more games like Sunday, he'll be a short-term fix while they work on turning him into their long-term answer behind the plate.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/rangers/onsi as Logan O'Hoppe Pays Off Immediately for Rangers in AL Playoff Chase .
