OAKLAND, Calif. — After Taylor Hearn failed to get past the fifth inning in a loss to Houston last start, Rangers manager Chris Woodward challenged him. He wanted Hearn to take the next step in his development and find a killer instinct that would allow him to stay in games longer.
On Saturday, Hearn responded with his longest outing of the season in an 11-4 win over the A’s. He got a lot of run support, so the pressure wasn’t necessarily at an all-time high, but he did finish with six innings pitched, two earned runs on eight hits allowed and five strikeouts.
“Everything I’ve been working on with our coaches has been paying off,” said Hearn, who improved to 3-3. “I’m just trying to be as consistent as I can.”
Through four innings the Rangers had a 4-1 lead. A long, six-run fifth inning put the game out of reach, but Woodward said he was impressed with how Hearn pitched, especially early on.
“I thought he did a great job all the way through … but I thought the intent in the first three-to-four innings was as good as I’ve seen it,” Woodward said. “He looked like he was dialed in.”
Briefly
The back-to-back home runs from Corey Seager and Adolis García happened on consecutive pitches off A’s starting pitcher Zach Logue. It was the first time two-straight pitches led to home runs for the Rangers since Jeff Mathis and Leody Taveras did so in 2020 … Seager put everyone on cycle watch, though it didn’t happen. The last time a Rangers player hit for the cycle was Carlos Gomez in 2017 … The Rangers had seven hitters with multiple hits on Saturday. That’s the highest they’ve had since Sept. 8, 2019 vs. Baltimore. The 19 hits on Saturday were also the most the Rangers have had in 2022 and the most since that same game against the Orioles in 2019 … Third base coach Tony Beasley had tightness in his right Achilles tendon and had to leave the game early. Corey Ragsdale moved from first base coach to third, and assistant Bobby Wilson took over at first base.
