Moreland's Big Night Is Promising

Mitch Moreland has been in a bad way since returning from the disabled list.

Since returning from the DL on June 21 in St. Louis, the Texas Rangers first baseman has hit .189 with a .257 on-base percentage and a .289 slugging percentage — not good for a power bat. He has just two home runs in those 25 starts. All of that was after he'd upped his batting average to the high .280s after an awful start to the season and had gotten red-hot, slugging homers left and right.

If Moreland can get back to that, it would be a huge boost to an anemic offense looking for all the help it can get. On Tuesday night, Moreland made some strides against the New York Yankees, blasting a two-run homer to dead center to cap a four-run inning and give the Rangers a 4-3 lead over the Yankees in the sixth inning after it seemed the Rangers' offense was asleep at the wheel through the first five frames.

The home run also came off a lefty as manager Ron Washington surprisingly left Moreland in instead of pinch-hitting lefty-masher Jeff Baker. It snapped an 0-for-12 skid for Moreland against southpaws.

"Until he went on the DL, he was handling lefties pretty well," Washington told reporters following the game. "Right there he did a good job of staying in there on a curve ball or slider. It certainly was something we needed right there. It gave us a shot to win the game and we finally took the lead."

It'd be nice for the Rangers if Moreland could get back to the way he was before that hamstring injury derailed his hot streak.

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