Adrian Beltre was hitting under .200 since coming off the disabled list unexpectedly soon late in June. It was, and still is, clear the injured thumb is still lingering and giving him trouble.
His diminished self hitting in the cleanup spot was hurting the Rangers offense, along with several other factors, but on Wednesday night he busted out of his slump in a nice way.
Despite the Rangers' loss on a night which saw Matt Harrison return without much to offer other than warm and fuzzy feelings, Beltre went 3-for-5 at the plate with a run and a double — only his third extra-base hit since his return 15 games ago.
He's yet to hit a home run since his return and has had trouble driving the ball.
The hope is that Beltre can take the four days off over the all-star break and really let his thumb take a break and improve before coming back fresh for the second half.
The likelihood of a complete healing is unlikely, but the fact he picked up three hits on Wednesday could be a sign of some more positive things to come down the road.
