{"id":28333,"date":"2026-04-23T02:57:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T02:57:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=28333"},"modified":"2026-04-23T02:57:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T02:57:32","slug":"evan-carter-robs-oneil-cruz-of-a-home-run-at-globe-life-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=28333","title":{"rendered":"Evan Carter robs Oneil Cruz of a home run at Globe Life Field"},"content":{"rendered":"


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ARLINGTON — Toward the end of each of his first three starts this season, Rangers right-hander Kumar Rocker<\/a> couldn\u2019t seem to catch a break. So Tuesday, Evan Carter<\/a> caught one for him.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Carter made a sensational, leaping grab at the wall in left-center field to rob Pirates star Oneil Cruz of a would-be, go-ahead, three-run homer with two outs in the fifth inning of a 5-1 Rangers win<\/a> at Globe Life Field.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cA game-changing play,\u201d Rangers manager Skip Schumaker described it, without hyperbole.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Rocker began the day as the only member of the Rangers rotation who hadn\u2019t recorded an out past the fifth inning this season. And he nearly went bust again in the fifth Tuesday after putting runners on second and third with two outs. With a 2-2 count, Rocker threw a middle-middle, 95.1 mph sinker to Cruz, who appeared certain to tie for the Pirates\u2019 team lead with what would\u2019ve been his seventh homer. The ball rocketed off Cruz\u2019s bat at 110.6 mph, according to Statcast, and Rocker\u2019s immediate, spinning reaction on the mound suggested he thought it was gone.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cJust the way he’s been swinging it, I know it has a chance to leave the park, and at that point, I\u2019m just praying,\u201d Rocker said.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Meanwhile, Carter was ranging to his right and tracking the ball down. He timed his jump and leapt at the wall, reeling in the 399-foot flyout from the visitors\u2019 bullpen.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Carter said he wasn\u2019t sure giving chase would make a difference, but did anyway. The ball had a .950 expected batting average.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cYou never give up on anything … It definitely wasn\u2019t one of those where I was putting in a courtesy run for it and watching it,\u201d Carter said. \u201cYou definitely get the vibe [that] this is going to be really close and you\u2019re just trying to put yourself in the best position, if it is close, to make a play.\u201d\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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For Rocker, that small bit of luck — or more accurately, Carter\u2019s skill — was enough to earn the righty his first victory of the season. Rocker breezed through the sixth after Carter\u2019s catch, with the help of three insurance runs from the Rangers\u2019 offense immediately after that play.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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If there is such a thing as momentum in baseball, the Rangers had it after Carter landed.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cIt’s not shocking that you come into the offensive part of that inning and you score runs … yeah, that’s real,\u201d Schumaker said.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Rocker had perhaps been more effective this season than his stats indicated, entering Tuesday with an 0-1 record and a 4.30 ERA. But his previous outing, an April 15 no-decision on the road against the Athletics, was his least polished, as he walked four and allowed two earned runs on four hits in only 4 2\/3 innings.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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On Tuesday, Rocker stumbled early, allowing a leadoff single to Cruz to start the game; Cruz then stole second and took third on a throwing error on the attempt, later scoring on a Ryan O\u2019Hearn single.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Rocker didn\u2019t allow himself to get into trouble again until the fateful fifth. After the reprieve Carter gave him, Rocker tossed a scoreless sixth; his work was done after only 88 pitches, 55 strikes. Rocker got his first quality start of the season, striking out five and walking one.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe first inning was trying to find my footing and trying to get in the strike zone a little bit,\u201d Rocker said. \u201cThe stuff looked good. Everything felt good, it was just a matter of settling in.\u201d\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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At age 26, Rocker — the No. 3 overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft out of Vanderbilt — has made only 21 Major League starts and is continuing to make major strides in his development, Schumaker said.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cOne of the best parts today was, after the first inning, he put up five zeros … there’s a lot of things that could have sped up on him, and all of a sudden we’re going to the \u2019pen early,\u201d Schumaker said. \u201cMaybe that happens earlier in his career, I don’t know. But today, he settled down [and] settled in for our team. To keep us in the game and then provide the innings after that, and just kind of shut the momentum down on their side, was a huge step for him.\u201d\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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ARLINGTON — Toward the end of each of his first three starts this season, Rangers right-hander Kumar Rocker couldn\u2019t seem to catch a break. So Tuesday, Evan Carter caught one for him. Carter made a sensational, leaping grab at the wall in left-center field to rob Pirates star Oneil Cruz of a would-be, go-ahead, three-run … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Evan-Carter-robs-Oneil-Cruz-of-a-home-run-at.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28333"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28335,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28333\/revisions\/28335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}