Texas got a visit on the field in the fourth inning by a birdie, and by the end of the inning the Rangers were in the lead.
ARLINGTON, Texas – In the top of the fourth inning Saturday night, the Texas Rangers may have stumbled upon a new ally – a rally bird.
With Seattle’s JP Crawford at first base, the bird — which was flying around the roof area of Globe Life Field on Friday night — landed at first base near Crawford and Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe.
He held the attention of the 31,621 in attendance. He also managed to catch the attention of Rangers manager Chris Woodward.
By the end of the fourth inning, the bird was gone – but the Rangers were up 4-3, on their way to a 7-3 victory.
Woodward says he will take whatever he can get as the Rangers snap a nine-game losing streak to Seattle.
“Yeah, rally monkey, rally bird, whatever works for us,” Woodward said, referring to the Angels’ ‘rally monkey’ from their perennial postseason days. “I was worried because it’s like, you don’t know what’s going to happen at first base. If someone moves, where is he (the bird) going to go? You could tell the fans got a kick out of it. We’ll put him up on the TV screen and give him all the publicity he wants.”
Well, someone moved. Crawford bolted from first base after Sam Haggerty drew a walk. That scared the bird enough to get him to move… to third place, next to Rangers fielder Ezequiel Duran.
He tried to shake the bird away out of concern for its safety, he said through a translator.
“I was trying to move it out of the way,” Duran said. “I didn’t want him to get hurt, and I wanted him to get out of the way in case I had to go in that direction (the third base line).”
The inning ended unknowingly, and the bird wandered into the shortstop area. No one bothered him, not the two umpires standing and talking nearby, not the other Mariners infielders. The bird flew away only after Crawford – who had already spooked the bird once – took warming grounders about five feet away from him.
The bird flew away, and the Rangers went on to score four runs off Mariners starter Marco Gonzales, and went on to win.
Will the bird return on Sunday for the final game of the series? The Rangers can only hope.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard
Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook and Twitter.
Texas got a visit on the field in the fourth inning by a birdie, and by the end of the inning the Rangers were in the lead.
ARLINGTON, Texas – In the top of the fourth inning Saturday night, the Texas Rangers may have stumbled upon a new ally – a rally bird.
With Seattle’s JP Crawford at first base, the bird — which was flying around the roof area of Globe Life Field on Friday night — landed at first base near Crawford and Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe.
He held the attention of the 31,621 in attendance. He also managed to catch the attention of Rangers manager Chris Woodward.
By the end of the fourth inning, the bird was gone – but the Rangers were up 4-3, on their way to a 7-3 victory.
Woodward says he will take whatever he can get as the Rangers snap a nine-game losing streak to Seattle.
“Yeah, rally monkey, rally bird, whatever works for us,” Woodward said, referring to the Angels’ ‘rally monkey’ from their perennial postseason days. “I was worried because it’s like, you don’t know what’s going to happen at first base. If someone moves, where is he (the bird) going to go? You could tell the fans got a kick out of it. We’ll put him up on the TV screen and give him all the publicity he wants.”
Well, someone moved. Crawford bolted from first base after Sam Haggerty drew a walk. That scared the bird enough to get him to move… to third place, next to Rangers fielder Ezequiel Duran.
He tried to shake the bird away out of concern for its safety, he said through a translator.
“I was trying to move it out of the way,” Duran said. “I didn’t want him to get hurt, and I wanted him to get out of the way in case I had to go in that direction (the third base line).”
The inning ended unknowingly, and the bird wandered into the shortstop area. No one bothered him, not the two umpires standing and talking nearby, not the other Mariners infielders. The bird flew away only after Crawford – who had already spooked the bird once – took warming grounders about five feet away from him.
The bird flew away, and the Rangers went on to score four runs off Mariners starter Marco Gonzales, and went on to win.
Will the bird return on Sunday for the final game of the series? The Rangers can only hope.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard
Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook and Twitter.
