Cactus Fever

Thursday, March 14
Cincinnati 4 at Texas 7
Surprise Stadium, Surprise
Temp: 67 at 6:07 first pitch

Langford Slam Shreds Reds

Rangers phenom Wyatt Langford stepped to the plate in the fourth inning with the sacks packed and his club leading, 3-0. Make that 7-zip as Langford launched a long bomb to right center that cleared the fence by a few ten-gallon hats. Last year, the 22-year-old laced the ball around the ballpark at a combined .360 clip in four levels of ball. Call Wyatt right on target. His 1-for-4 Thursday left his cactus average at .361 (13-for-36) with 5 HR and 14 RBIs.

The Reds finally found the scoreboard in what became a Hernandez Old Home Week in the top of the seventh. Texas subbed in Elier Hernandez for Evan Carter in left and Jonathan Hernandez replaced Brock Burke on the mound. After an Austin Hendrick strikeout, Reds’ second baseman Miguel Hernandez pinch hit for Jonathan India. Miguel jumped on Jonathan with a bomb to left for Cincinnati’s first run.

The Reds made some more noise in the ninth. Hernan Perez led off with a single to center. Catcher interference from Andrew Knapp put Hernandez at first. James Free doubled home Perez before Allan Cerda went yard on David Robertson for a two-run blast to center that brought the Reds within 3, 7-4. Robertson fanned Logan Tanner however, to end the game. Jon Gray (2-0) picked up the win, being stretched out to five innings of work. He yielded 3 hits and no runs while striking out five. Tejay Antone (0-1) took the loss for the Reds.

Ballpark Buzz … The Rangers’ Marcus Semien was PBP (Perfect But Painful) at the plate. He singled and scored in the first, stroked an RBI-double in the second, was plunked on the left arm by Buck Farmer in the fourth before scoring on Langford’s grand slam and Marcus walked in the sixth. Semien is hitting .250 (7-for-28) with 1 HR and 2 RBIs this spring. … Surprise Stadium was stuffed to the gills with an attendance of 12,026. … Right field “lawn seating” became downright dangerous. Every time the center fielder or right fielder went to toss the ball into the stands, a munchkin monsoon blew one way or the other, cheek-to-cheek, jowl-to-jowl, step-where-they-may. No band-aid brigade reported. … In the photo above, note the smoke coming out of the “stack” in the third base concourse. The wind blowing out to right quickly took on a barbecue flavor that kept fans down the first base line salivating. … A five-minute fireworks display followed the game before a thankfully long-delayed brief shower. … The game time temperature of 67 dipped to a windy 61, sending several seeking shelter under the covers.