Texas Rangers: 5 subtle moments that made a significant impact on the ALDS

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For the third time in team history, the Texas Rangers are headed to the American League Championship Series. The ALDS culminated with a convincing 7 to 1 victory at Globe Life Field Wednesday night. But how did they get there? We remember most of the big events. But what led up to those? See if you can remember these, and the impact they had at the time.

Game 1, bottom of the 4th, two outs, Adam Frazier pinch hits with Texas leading 2 to 1

The Rangers had just taken the first lead of the series in the top half of the fourth. Other than a first inning single by Anthony Santander, Texas starter Andrew Heaney had pitched well. But needing a shutdown inning, Heaney seemingly ran out of gas. He retired Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman on a deep fly ball to center field, but then surrendered a walk to Santander on a pretty tough seven pitch at bat. Then on the very next pitch, Ryan Mountcastle roped a double down the left field line to breathe life into the Camden Yards faithful and put Baltimore on the board.

After coaxing Gunnar Henderson into a fly out, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy decided Heaney had accomplished all he could for the afternoon and called on righthander Dane Dunning. At first, the situation seemed to get worse. Dunning walked Aaron Hicks, bringing pinch hitter Adam Frazier to the dish with runners on first and second.

The right-handed-hitting rookie Jordan Westburg had originally started the game in the number seven slot because of the lefty Heaney going for Texas. And although baseball rhetoric favors going to a left-handed bat to face a righty on the mound, one can't help but wonder how that decision changed things.

On a 2-1 pitch, Dunning issues a 90 MPH four-seamer high above the strike zone. Frazier cuts at it, sending it highly and harmlessly into the air for first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, who records the third and final out of the inning. This allowed the Rangers to stay in front, and they avoided what could have been a much bigger rally for the Orioles than just the one run they plated.

Westburg hit .246 during the regular season against righties, a mere two points less than Frazier. Yes, Frazier had an OBP about 20 points higher, but a walk would have loaded the bases for the light-hitting Cedric Mullins, who doesn't walk that often and had just batted .233 during the regular season. And while Dunning was a much better pitcher in the regular season against right-handed hitters, it's conceivable that the Orioles went to the bench a bit too early. In any case, the decision led to the third out, killing a potential rally for the O's.

Next: Moment 2

Game 1, bottom of the 7th, no outs, Frazier up with Texas leading 3 to 2

Following a valiant effort of long relief from Dunning, Texas made the call for Josh Sborz to face the back portion of the Baltimore lineup. The Rangers had gone down in order in the top half of the seventh, so a shutdown inning would bode extremely well for them in the bottom half.

But the sentiment of the Texas faithful quickly went from one of confidence to one that screamed "oh no, here we go!" Sborz missed the strike zone on four straight offerings to Hicks, sending the tying run to first. He then proceeded to miss on the next three to Frazier and didn't appear to have any ability to even catch a corner.

But his fourth pitch, a four-seam fastball at the top of the zone did just that. He then sends a second four-seamer to almost the same spot, invoking a swing and a miss to fill the count. Sborz decided to go four-seamer one more time to the inside edge, resulting in a high, lazy fly to right field for the first out.

As if the proverbial ignition had been lit, Sborz went into a new gear and started dancing curveballs to Mullins. On a 1-2 count, Sborz pulls the string on him with a nasty curve in the dirt to get a miss and a much-needed second out. He then freezes the pinch-hitting Ryan O'Hearn with deuces wild on a 98 MPH four-seamer to end the frame.

After an inability to hit the strike zone, Sborz suddenly developed an inability to miss. With 12 pitches that looked nothing like the seven before them, he got the Rangers to the 8th with their lead in tact.

Next: Moment 3

Game 1, bottom of the 8th, no outs, Santander bats with Texas still ahead 3 to 2

Looking back, this just might be the scariest moment of the series for Rangers fans. Two innings earlier, Santander had taken Dunning deep to put the score back to a one run game in favor of Texas. And after Sborz escaped his drama, the Rangers made the decision to roll with Aroldis Chapman. Throughout his tenure with the Rangers, Chapman has developed quite a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-like pattern. On this particular day, he was ... well, the one that couldn't find the strike zone.

Missing on four straight pitches, he walked Austin Hays to lead off the 8th, putting the tying run immediately on base. His third pitch to Rutschman in the next at bat would skitter away from catcher Jonah Heim, sending Hays to second. Rutschman would complete his plate appearance by drawing a walk, putting the go-ahead run on first and a potential insurance run at the plate with no outs. Next up would be the dangerous Santander up who was already 2-2 on the afternoon, including a homer his previous at bat.

But then as if he'd suddenly found the mojo he needed, Chapman buried a 0-1 four-seamer below the strike zone, and Santander bit. The result was a well-hit grounder that third baseman Josh Jung scooped beautifully to his left. Although his throw went a tad high, he rifled it to Marcus Semien, who then snagged it in the air. He landed on the bag and relayed a bullet to Lowe at first, catching Santander by about a stride's length at first base, completing the 5-4-3 double play and clearing the bases.

Chapman proceeded to finish the inning and his outing with a virtual clean sheet by whiffing Mountcastle on a 1-2 sinker that seemed to rise much more than it sunk. In any case, Chapman worked his way clear of the jam, preserving the lead and even gaining a hold for himself.

Next: Moment 4

Game 2, top of the 2nd, no outs, Lowe leads off with Baltimore leading 2 to 0

Game two was filled with offensive sparks for the Rangers, but the man in the midst of quite a dry spell was probably responsible for sparking both of the biggest Texas rallies. In the bottom of the first, Baltimore put together a clinic on working a pitcher, forcing Rangers starter Jordan Montgomery to issue a heavy supply of pitches.

After the Rangers had squandered an opportunity in the first with two men on and no outs as well as a chance with the bases loaded and two outs, the Orioles did not return the favor. They worked Montgomery for 32 pitches in the bottom half, loading the bases and delivering with a two-out two-run single. It would mark the first lead in the series for Baltimore. If they wanted to stay in the game and remain competitive, the Rangers needed an answer. Enter the struggling Lowe, who was just batting .214 on the postseason with three hits in 14 at bats.

With O's starter Grayson Rodriguez clearly attempting to work Lowe high and tight, Lowe refused the first pitch. The second came in towards the top of the zone and over the middle, which he fouled off. After the third pitch missed up and in, he fouled off the fourth pitch. The fifth missed in almost exactly the same spot, but Lowe held off this time. Then the sixth came in even tighter and Lowe ignored it to draw a six pitch walk.

The significance of this at bat came in the fact that the Rangers hitters had already worked Rodriguez for 27 pitches in the first. Lowe's patience set the tone for what would be the first huge Texas inning of game two and render Baltimore's first lead of the series to also be their last.

Lowe's refusal to make an out on six straight four-seamers opened the floodgates, which ultimately led to an early departure for Rodriguez. However, not before he would allow a single to Jung and then a game-tying two-run double to Leody Taveras. Mitch Garver, García and Heim would then drive in runs as well to finish Rodriguez's ledger for the evening and put the Rangers out front at 5 to 2.

We should mention at this point that Garver dealt the back-breaking blow one inning later with the second grand slam in Rangers postseason history. While that in-and-of-itself was monumental, the damage had already been done by that point. Nevertheless, Texas cruised to a big 11to 8 victory that wasn't nearly as close as the score led everyone to believe.

Next: Moment 5

Game 3, bottom of the 2nd, no outs, Lowe leads off with Texas leading 1 to 0

As we'd mentioned previously, Lowe was in a rough spot for the series. While most of the bats came alive in game two, his did not. He drew the crucial walk mentioned above, but then that was it for him all day as his averaged for the playoffs dropped to just .167. He was in desperate need of something huge. And while that didn't come at this moment, he did something equally heroic in his first plate appearance of the evening.

One inning earlier, Corey Seager put Texas up front with a solo home run off a fairly well-placed changeup. While the Rangers would get a couple more hits in the inning, they still failed to show the patience that had fared well for them previously in the postseason.

Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi would go out and breeze through the second on just nine pitches, putting Lowe at the plate to lead off the bottom of the inning. The ensuing battle was the kind of thing legends are made of.

Looking strictly at the box score play-by-play listing, one will merely see a lineout to left field. But this was so much more than that. Lowe proceeded to hit the "reset" button for the Texas lineup as he gave Baltimore starter Dean Kremer everything he could handle. The crazy thing is, Lowe would fall behind in the count 0-2 right out of the gate. He fouled off the third pitch, then took a high and tight four-seamer for ball one. The fifth pitch would come in towards his belt and he laid off to even the count. Lowe then fought off the sixth offering and the seventh would miss way up on the outer edge of the dish.

By this point, Kremer had already tossed seven pitches to the leadoff hitter of the inning and had become noticeably sweaty. Offering number eight, notably the eighth fastball of some kind within the at bat, arrived low and away, which Lowe proceeded to bat off foul. Number nine shot over the heart of the plate and suffered the same fate as every other pitch that Lowe took a cut at. The tenth pitch, a sinker missed up and away, but still over the heart of the plate and Lowe got a piece of it to stay alive. Pitches 11 and 12 both came in low and over the inside part of the plate to be fouled away, too. Lowe batted away the 13th, which could have easily been ruled ball four, but was also fouled off. The 14th pitch would arrive belt high, and Lowe swatted it away with malice. Finally, an already exhausted Kremer dealt the 15th pitch, a sinker on the outer edge. Lowe struck it hard, shooting it to the opposite field in left, but Hays took it in for out number one.

By this point, Kremer tossed more pitches than most hurlers want to issue in a typical inning, and he had just one out to show for it. As if his proverbial will had been broken, the Rangers lineup then proceeded to work the count and make solid contact with a two-run double from Garver and then a back-breaking three-run blast from García. Just like that, the score shot to 6-0 and Kremer left the mound with just 1 2/3 innings pitched to his name.

He would fade into the evening in much the same way the Orioles chances of winning the series did. Lowe would later go on to connect on an emotional home run that everyone watching enjoyed seeing him celebrate. And while that was certainly a big moment for him, that huge Texas second might not have happened without his heroic line out to lead off the inning. But the rest as they say, is history.

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