ANAHEIM – That’s one way to announce your return.
If catcher Kyle Higashioka was feeling any lingering issues from his mild right hamstring strain, they didn’t show as the 35-year-old veteran launched two home runs in Tuesday's 8-5 loss to the Angels at the Big A.
“I mean, I’d be in a lot better mood if we won,” said Higashioka, who grew up in nearby Huntington Beach. “But it’s always nice to play at home, or where you grew up. They got a good playing surface here and the weather’s always great, so it’s nice to be back.”
It’s nice for the Rangers to have him back too. Before exiting the game against the A’s on July 22 with a hamstring injury, Higashioka was slashing .362/.367/.596 with 17 hits, five extra base hits (three of them home runs), nine RBI, and three stolen bases in the month of July.
Add the two homers hit on Tuesday and Higgy’s total of five in the last month quintupled the lone home run he hit in the first three months of the season on April 17 vs the Dodgers.
Higashioka tries not to overcomplicate his approach at the plate — he’s simply looking for something in the middle. On his first home run of the game, which came in the fourth inning against Halos starter Yusei Kikuchi, he got exactly what he was looking for: a fastball over the heart of the plate. But he fouled it off. He worked the count full, fouling off three more pitches. On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Higashioka got what he was looking for again — a hanging slider from Kikuchi up in the zone.
This time, he got all of it — driving the ball to left-center field. Taylor Ward rose up to try and make a play on it, but the ball flew over his outstretched glove and into the bullpen.
“He made a lot of really quality pitches, and I didn’t capitalize on some of the good ones,” Higashioka said. “But seemed to find a little groove after that.”
Higashioka sparked a rally in the top of the sixth with a one-out base hit. He scored two batters later when Ezequiel Duran grounded an RBI single into the left-field gap. Josh Smith initially stopped at third, but eventually came home as well when Ward spiked the relay throw to second base, allowing the Rangers to take a brief 4-3 lead before everything fell apart in the bottom half of the inning.
When Higashioka came to the plate again in the eighth, he altered his approach slightly as part of the cat-and-mouse game between a hitter and pitcher. He knew Connor Brogdon wasn’t going to pitch him the same way that Kikuchi did, but he kept the same overall patience. On the fifth pitch, Higashioka again got a fastball down the middle.
Again, he didn’t miss it. Higashioka, not usually known for his power with his .409 SLG% over his nine Major League seasons, mashed it 411 feet — the farthest he’s hit a ball all season — for a no-doubter to cap off a 3-for-4, two RBI night in his native Southern California.
“Impressive, wasn’t it?” manager Bruce Bochy said. “To take that much time off and be on time the way he was. Terrific game by him.”
For Higashioka, he was just glad to be back on the field and pick up right where he left off.
“That was nice,” he said. “You don’t really wanna take that many days off too often. But I’m just glad the hamstring’s feeling better, and just hopefully able to contribute from here on out.”