39-46 - Lowe takes off as Rangers take opener from Padres 7-0

The Texas Rangers scored seven runs while the San Diego Padres are still awaiting their first run of the series.

Look, I know the Texas power grid is shaky but you wouldn't have thought that it would take until like a couple weeks before the All-Star Game for the Rangers to have the juice turned on.

After seeing their SLG slowly dip toward the bottom of the league, the Rangers have smacked 22 extra base hits over the last three games, including a season-high eight tonight against San Diego.

The funny thing is, they didn't even need an explosive day at the dish with Nathan Eovaldi tossing seven shutout innings on just one hit, but it was still a sight for sore eyes for a team that has had too many games like tonight end in losses because the bats couldn't muster much.

Instead, Texas was able to grab a win to open their final homestand of the first half and cool off a Padres team that came to Arlington winners of eight of their last ten contests.

Player of the Game: For as good as Eovaldi was, and for all the extra base hits that the team collected, the hero tonight was Nathaniel Lowe (ironically, perhaps, on Nathaniel Lowe Gold Glove Bobblehead Night).

Lowe started to heat up a bit toward the end of the recent road trip and that continued tonight as he launched a pair of two-run home runs in his first two at-bats to set the tone.

Lowe, who hit 27 dingers back in 2022 as the AL's Silver Slugger first baseman, came into the last game of the Milwaukee series on June 26 having hit just two home runs all season. Now, after a couple of bombs in the last few days of June, and two more tonight, Lowe has tripled his season total in less than a week.

Up Next: The Rangers will have an opportunity to secure a series victory with RHP Jon Gray set to make the start opposite RHP Adam Mazur for San Diego.

The Wednesday evening first pitch from The Shed is set for 7:05 pm CT and you can catch it on BS Southwest.