Entering Wednesday night's game against the Orioles, Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus was mired in a 1-for-19 slump over his previous five games.
He was taking heat over some public scrutiny by manager Ron Washington for some laziness and errors on defense, not to mention his recent struggles at the plate.
But on Wednesday, all that talk ended as Andrus busted out with a 3-for-4 night with two hard-hit doubles, a walk and an RBI. He also had a clean game on defense a night after putting up two beautiful defensive plays.
So despite the recent slump at the plate, Washington was ready to show Andrus some love after Wednesday's game.
"I think it's been three games that Elvis has played pretty good," Washington said.
He certainly couldn't have been talking about his performance at the plate, but after working on driving balls to the gap on Tuesday with the Rangers' coaching staff, his work paid off on Wednesday when he hit two balls over the center fielder's head in the left-center gap for his two doubles.
"When he stays in the middle of the field he's good," Washington said of his 22-year-old shortstop. "He stayed in the middle of the field and let his hands work, and he caught the gap in left-center field twice which was good. He stayed up the middle. When he stays in the middle of the field he's dangerous."
