ARLINGTON -- Left-handed pitching continues to be a vexing problem for the Rangers, so it was a nice sign when the San Diego Padres went to right-handed reliever Brandon Maurer in the ninth inning Thursday.
After struggling against lefty starter Clayton Richard for most of the game, Texas exploded for four runs and beat the Padres 5-2 on a walk-off three-run homer from Mike Napoli with one out in the ninth.
So was it just as simple as going from a lefty to a righty?
“That would be the simple solution,” manager Jeff Banister said. “But I thought there were good at-bats against the left-hander.