Texas Tech baseball alums: Josh Jung’s big series helps Texas Rangers advance
It never seems like a moment is too big for former Texas Tech baseball star and current Texas Rangers’ third baseman Josh Jung. The player who last year homered in his first career at-bat in the Major Leagues just played his first two playoff games this week and came up huge to help his team sweep the Tampa Bay Rays on the road.
In the best-of-three series, Jung went 3-8 and had some huge at-bats that helped turn the tide. Tuesday, the Red Raider legend opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the second inning to put Texas ahead 1-0. Ultimately, that would be the game-winning run in what turned out to be a 4-0 win.
What’s more, in the bottom of the 7th, he made an impact with his glove. Snagging a looping line drive by stretching out to his left, he helped keep the Rays in check as starter Jordan Montgomery pitched seven scoreless innings to pick up the win.
On Tuesday, with Texas looking to advance, Jung was even more impactful. Going 3-4 with two doubles and a triple, he became just the 4th Texas Ranger in franchise history to collect three extra-base hits in a playoff game.
In the top of the third, with the game scoreless, he would double to left field. Unfortunately, though, he would be stranded at third base that inning as the Rays worked out of a jam.
An inning later, he would triple to right field with two outs. On the play, center fielder Leody Tavares would score to give Jung his first-ever postseason RBI and stake Texas to a 2-0 lead. Jung would then come around to score on a homer by fellow rookie Evan Carter, the Texas left fielder who set a franchise record by starting out his postseason career by reaching base in each of his first six plate appearances.
In the sixth, Jung would lace a ball to left-center that would bounce against the wall and stick into the seam between two padded sections of paneling for a double. Two hitters later, he would be brought home on a double by second basemen, Marcus Semien.
To say it was a successful playoff debut for Jung is putting it mildly. What’s more, there was a time when it appeared that he might not be able to participate in the playoffs this year.
On August 6th, Jung broke his left thumb when he caught a scorching line drive that did not land in the webbing of his glove but rather near his palm. That injury required surgery and put Jung’s season in jeopardy just as Texas was gearing up for a playoff push.
However, Jung would return to action on September 18. However, he didn’t exactly hit the ground running.
In his final 13 games of the regular season, he would go just 10-51 (0.196) with one double, one homer, and only three RBI. Still, he would end the year with 23 homers, 70 RBI, and a .266 average.
But when the stakes were raised, Jung, as he did so often as a Red Raider and as he has done in his brief Texas Rangers career, rose to the occasion helping fuel his team’s upset series win over a Tampa Bay team that was second in the American League this season with 99 wins.
Jung is only scratching the surface of what he can become as a big leaguer and already, he’s in the conversation for being the best third baseman in the game. (After all, he was the American League starter in this year’s All-Star game). Now, Texas will open a best-of-five series against top seed Baltimore on Saturday afternoon and Texas Tech fans will be watching closely to see what Jung can do as he continues to amaze in his first full season in the bigs.