Lineup adjustments pay off in Rangers' victory over Cardinals

ST. LOUIS -- Marcus Semien is as consistent as they come. He plays every day, batting in the leadoff spot and manning second base. Seeing him anywhere else on the lineup card is always cause for confusion.

In Monday’s series opener against the Cardinals, Semien lined up in the three-hole for just the third time in his Rangers tenure and first time since 2022. Josh Smith, who led off the only two games this season when Semien didn’t play, was in the leadoff spot.

“We’re just tweaking it a little bit here,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “With Josh Jung coming back, you're gonna see a little different lineup. So we wanted to take a look at it here in this series and maybe farther. Yeah, just changing things up. Is it a big change? No, all we did is flip those two [Semien and Smith] for right now. But like I said, you're gonna see it change a little bit with Jung getting back in the lineup. I'm just hoping that any kind of change does something to get this offense going on a consistent basis.”

Well for one game, it definitely worked.

The Rangers beat the Cardinals, 6-3, on Monday night at Busch Stadium, thanks to a little lineup maneuvering and a few bloops and one big blast from Nathaniel Lowe, who launched a 407-foot bomb into the visitors' bullpen in the seventh inning.

The two that were flip-flopped in the lineup -- Semien and Smith -- combined to go 3-for-9 in those new spots.

“Hopefully I still get a hit regardless of where I'm at,” Semien said with a laugh pregame. “I think we’re trying to change it up to see if we can go on a run here. Why not? … I’m a baseball player. I'm not worried about now being the three hitter that I need to do this and that [differently]. I'm going to play baseball to the best of my ability.”

Ever the team player, Semien didn’t blink at the lineup adjustments. He’s done it before after all.

But to be fair, no minor lineup adjustment really matters quite as much as the production the Rangers were able to get throughout the lineup, not just with their top four or five hitters. Four Texas hitters -- Lowe, Smith, Jonah Heim and Wyatt Langford -- collected multiple hits. Corey Seager had a hit and a walk. Two of the six RBIs came from the bottom of the order with Heim and Leody Taveras.

Everybody contributed a little bit of something to the win.

“It's going to take everybody,” Bochy said. “We can't lean on one guy or two guys. Throughout the order, somebody's got to do something that can help win a game. That's what I felt good about tonight. It's really encouraging, especially with Josh Jung playing tomorrow. I know he's excited about it.”

It’s no secret that the Rangers are in a precarious position when it comes to Tuesday’s Trade Deadline. They’ve already shipped off Michael Lorenzen to the Royals and acquired Carson Kelly from the Tigers.

The front office appears to be threading a fine needle between buying and selling with the division still very much in play, especially with injured players like Jung and Cody Bradford making their return this week.

The Rangers are 3 1/2 games behind the Astros and Mariners atop the AL West. Every win matters, everybody knows it.

But as for how the impending Trade Deadline has affected the clubhouse, veteran reliever David Robertson -- who got the Rangers out of a bases-loaded jam in the win -- declined to take questions.

“I don’t even know how to answer that question,” he said with a relatively nervous chuckle. “I’ll pass on that. Listen, talk to me tomorrow at 5 p.m. when I’m still here.”