ARLINGTON, Texas — An illness knocked right fielder Brandon Nimmo out of the Texas Rangers lineup for Sunday’s finale against the Toronto Blue Jays. Kennedi Landry of MLB.com reported the scratch at 12:27 p.m. CT, roughly an hour before first pitch.
Alejandro Osuna moved into right field and took the fifth spot Nimmo held on the original card.
Alejandro Osuna Takes Brandon Nimmo’s Spot In Right Field
Nobody else moved. Wyatt Langford leads off in left field. Corey Seager is the designated hitter for a second straight day, and Ezequiel Durán bats fourth at shortstop.
Osuna, 23, bats left-handed. As a rookie last season, he hit .212 with 2 home runs and 15 RBI over 63 games. Toronto’s listed starter, Spencer Miles, is a right-hander.
Nimmo batted fourth and played right field in Saturday’s 6-2 win. He singled in the sixth inning ahead of Langford’s RBI double. Two batters later, Toronto intentionally walked Nicky Lopez to load the bases, and Nimmo scored when Danny Jansen was hit by a pitch.
Before that game, Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said the plan against right-hander José Soriano was to avoid double-play balls.
“That’s a baseball play,” Schumaker said of the intentional walk. “The intentional walk, it’s a baseball play. And they wanted to probably try to get a double play with Jansen. I’m not sure that, I’m not on their side, but that’s most likely. I probably would have done the same thing, quite honestly. And it just so happened that Jansen got hit by the pitch.”
Texas has won lately by bunting, by stealing, and with big hits, Langford said on Rangers Sports Network.
“It’s awesome,” Langford said. “We’ve won in a bunch of different ways lately. Whether it’s bunting, stealing, big hits, just part of it, part of the game. That happens and then Danny obviously gets hit in the next pitch. So it all worked out. But that’s what happens. You just play hard and see what happens.”
Texas Rangers Go For The Sweep With AL West Lead On The Line
The scratch is the Rangers’ second roster move of the day. Earlier Sunday, they placed Cal Quantrill on the 15-day injured list and recalled right-hander Winston Santos from Triple-A Round Rock.
Five relievers covered 7 2/3 innings Saturday after Quantrill left with right lat tightness. Sunday’s pitching was still unsettled when Schumaker met with reporters afterward.
“I’m worried about tomorrow,” Schumaker said. “I’m going to celebrate this for another hour or so and then figure out what we have pitching-wise going into tomorrow. We’ll celebrate this one first for the next hour or so, and then have a meeting right now and see where we’re at.”
Jacob deGrom (11-9, 3.79 ERA) starts at 1:35 p.m. CT on Rangers Sports Network and KRLD 1080 AM. At home this season, he is 8-2, and he has 194 strikeouts overall.
Texas (78-77) leads the American League West by a game over the Houston Astros, who hold the tiebreaker. Seven games remain. The Rangers are 6-0 against Toronto this season.
After an off day Monday, Texas hosts the New York Mets from Sept. 22 to 24. The regular season ends with three games at the Minnesota Twins from Sept. 25 to 27.
