Leonys Martin did his best to make sure the Texas Rangers were able to pull off their second straight sweep of the rival Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night, and it didn't take long for his impression to be felt.
On a night that saw the Rangers run their way to a 10-3 win, a night after scoring eight runs in the same manner, Martin immediately picked up where he left off Tuesday, when he stole three bases, by stealing three more bags in Wednesday's win.
Martin got hit by a pitch to lead off the game on Wednesday and then stole second base. After Elvis Andrus walked, the two executed a double-steal, as Martin took third. He then scored on a sacrifice fly from Ian Kinsler, giving the Rangers an early 1-0 lead without getting a hit.
In the bottom half of that inning, Martin made his presence felt with his cannon arm.
With Erick Aybar attempting to go from first to third on a line drive to right field, where Martin was playing after David Murphy's well-documented struggles Tuesday, the Cuban rookie fired a laser to Adrian Beltre at third, who tagged a sliding Aybar on the head just before his feet got to the bag.
It was one of those memorable throws — the kind Martin has shown already this season with six outfield assists.
Hate to get ahead of ourselves here, but Martin will be in the mix for AL Rookie of the Year discussions up there with Wil Myers and Chris Archer, and he's starting to show that that $20 million deal the Rangers gave him straight out of Cuba was worth it.
Sports Connection
Connecting you to your favorite North Texas sports teams as well as sports news around the globe.
He's now gone from a guy to trade to get Giancarlo Stanton to a potential cornerstone of the future of this team, and it's only going to get better.
