Could a hat change spark Rangers? Semien answers with walk-off

ARLINGTON -- A sea of red caps adorned the Rangers’ clubhouse at Globe Life Field, a stark contrast to the typical fashion of this era of the ballclub. The Rangers only wore the red caps four times in 2024, going 1-3 in them, but they had not appeared all year until Saturday afternoon's 3-2, 10-inning victory over the Mariners.

The royal blue caps are the most frequently worn, accounting for all road games and weekday home games in 2025. Texas is 31-36 in those this season. The two alternate hats are the City Connects (4-5) -- which are worn for Friday home games -- and Sunday powder blues (5-1).

The reds are now 1-0.

The Rangers evened the series, with Marcus Semien delivering a bases-loaded walk-off single to secure the victory. It was his seventh career walk-off plate appearance, the last one also coming against Seattle pitcher Andrés Muñoz on Sept. 22, 2024.

“It was just a tremendous at-bat,” manager Bruce Bochy said of Semien. “It's tough duty off that guy [Muñoz]. It was just battle, battle, battle, and he got enough of one pitch where he could do something with it, and obviously it was the game-winner. He put together an at-bat that we needed today.”

Rangers rookie starting pitcher Kumar Rocker conveniently said that red is his favorite color, so when they asked if he wanted to wear the red hats and socks for the first time since a 4-2 loss to the Astros on Aug. 6, 2024, it was an automatic yes.

“They asked me, and I said, ‘Of course,’” Rocker said. “You can’t turn down the red. It’s a great color. Red jerseys maybe one day.”

No matter what color the hats or jerseys are, Rocker has looked like a completely new pitcher lately. In Saturday’s win, he collected his second career quality start, though he was tagged with a no-decision after leaving with the game tied, 2-2, after six innings.

The bullpen stitched together four scoreless frames behind him to set up Semien’s walk-off.

“Rocker, I mean, he really stepped up, didn't he?” Bochy said. “He's been throwing the ball well. We needed him to get us deep with this bullpen. What a terrific job he did. It's really been cool to watch how he's come back and thrown the ball the way he has. And the bullpen again, they stepped up. It took a well-pitched game to win that one.”

Rocker threw a career-high 97 pitches, and he’s now set a new career mark in three straight contests (82 and 89 pitches in his previous two games). The right-hander allowed two runs across six innings, which is just his second-longest start in his young big league career (7 IP on April 17).

Rocker was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock on June 5, just one start following his activation from the injured list as he dealt with a right shoulder impingement. In that start, he allowed five earned runs in 3 1/3 innings in a road loss to Tampa Bay, ballooning his season ERA to 8.87 across his first six starts of the season.

He was recalled to join the big league club just a week later on June 15, following injuries to Nathan Eovaldi and Tyler Mahle that limited the rotation. He’s now given up just four earned runs in 16 1/3 innings since his return, good for a 2.20 ERA in three starts.

“I think more than anything, I’ve been impressed with his mental toughness,” Bochy said. “I’m sure that was not the news he wanted to hear when he went back down, but to his credit, he went down and worked on things. He came up saying, ‘Hey, I'm not going back down, I'm going to show that I am a complete pitcher.’ That's what he's doing now, not just with the pitching, but doing, as we talked about, all the little things. He's come up with just a different look.”

So will the Rangers wear the red caps again tomorrow?

“Well, no, I think we're wearing powder blue [on Sunday],” Semien said with a smile. “So we’ll have to get a win in those.”