ARLINGTON, Texas _ Remember Opening Day when Shin-Soo Choo was left out of the Rangers lineup in what appeared to be something of an unintentional slight?
Yeah, well, he seems to be over that.
On Wednesday, Choo continued his on-base onslaught, reaching three times, scoring twice and driving in the go-ahead runs as the Rangers came-from-behind yet again to finish off a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels with a 5-4 win. The Rangers are 10-7 through 17 games after suddenly erratic closer Jose Leclerc escaped a bases-loaded, no outs situation with only one run scoring.
At the top of the lineup, Choo is essential to making the Rangers' offense go. On Wednesday, he pushed his on-base percentage to .446, good for fourth in the AL. He has reached base 15 times in his last 29 plate appearances. Not coincidentally, the Rangers are 5-2 in those seven games.
He also helped demonstrate to the Rangers that it is, indeed possible to win a game without hitting a homer. It was the first time this season they have won without hitting a homer.
Choo was the only Ranger to reach base the first time through the lineup, singling to start the first against Matt Harvey. To start the second trip, he worked a six-pitch walk from Matt Harvey, battling back from a 1-2 count that included taking a very close pitch to push the count full. He went to second on an errant pickoff throw, to third on a ground ball to the right side and scored on a fielding error to draw the Rangers within 2-1.
The next inning, after three singles tied the score and Delino DeShields bunted runners to second and third, Choo drove them both home with a triple into the corner on the sixth pitch of the at-bat, the 18th pitch he'd seen from Harvey for the night. He made Harvey pay the ultimate third-time-through-the-order penalty. Ty Buttrey replaced him.
A little over two weeks ago, Rangers manager Chris Woodward chose to sit the veteran Choo on Opening Day against a left-hander. Choo, in his 14th season in the majors, wasn't happy about the decision, but spoke with Woodward directly about it on several occasions. Woodward said it's led him to have an even greater admiration and respect for Choo's team-first approach to the game.
You know what else will do that: Reaching base nearly 50 percent of the time.
