Texas Rangers center fielder Eli White made a spectacular leaping catch to take a three-run homer away from Ji-Man Choi in the first inning and later hit a long home run as Texas beat the Tampa Bay Rays 9-5 on Monday night.
White sprinted to the warning track in deep left-center and timed his jump perfectly. His upper body was well above the 6-foot wall fronting the Rays bullpen and his left arm fully extended above his head when he made the catch more than 400 feet from the plate.
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WATCH HEREGlenn Otto (3-2), the rookie right-hander who had walked and hit a batter with a pitch before that, lifted his glove to salute his teammate. Choi even smiled about it.
Jonah Heim also homered and Kole Calhoun drove in three runs for Texas (23-24), which with a win Tuesday could reach .500 for the first time this season. Mitch Garver was 3 for 4 with a walk and a two-run double after missing the previous three games with a mild left knee sprain.
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SIGN UP Rays starter Drew Rasmussen (5-2) walked the first three batters he faced and threw two wild pitches before Calhoun went the opposite way. Calhoun’s groundball single through the open left side of the infield because of a defensive shift put Texas up 2-0.
After Josh Smith led off the Texas second with a single in his first big league at-bat, White homered to straightaway center field as the ball sailed beyond the reach of a leaping Brett Phillips. White’s second homer of the season gave the Rangers a 4-1 lead.
Smith and White, in the bottom two spots of the Texas lineup, both had three hits. Smith is the sixth Texas player with three hits in his MLB debut, the first since Nomar Mazara in 2016.
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Otto matched his longest career outing by going six innings and exited with a 9-2 lead. Only one run was earned as the right-hander struck out four, walked three and threw 60 of his career-high 99 pitches for strikes.
Rasmussen, 5-0 in his six previous starts, allowed five runs in three innings. The first three batters were the only ones he walked, and he struck out three.
