'Confidence' driving White's hot hitting of late

ARLINGTON -- Eli White is getting his first extended chance at the big leagues this month and he’s making the most of it.

In the Rangers’ 13-6 loss to the A’s Tuesday night, White went 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI double in the fifth inning and his third career home run -- a 440 foot blast into the second deck of the left-field bleachers -- in the seventh inning. His three hits matched a career high, which he said felt pretty good coming against Oakland, the team that drafted him (in the 11th round in 2016).

“I think once I just got relaxed, everything kind of fell into place,” White said. “I feel like my swing is pretty tension-free right now. In the swing, if you have any sort of tension or anxiety up at the dish, it ends up messing with your mechanics, for me anyway. Once I kind of just got relaxed and I'm confident up there, everything's just kind of been falling into place.”

White, who recently moved to the two hole in the lineup, has bounced between Triple-A Round Rock and the big league roster throughout the season, but lately he's been making a name for himself at the plate.

He was raking at a .343 clip in the Minors across 20 games, but was hitting just .127 in 22 games over two separate stints with the big league club in 2021.

In 11 games (10 starts) since being recalled on June 8, he’s slashing .270/.357/.568/.925 with five extra-base hits. Rangers manager Chris Woodward praised White for his growth when the club sent him down to Triple-A.

“I'm telling you, it's just that confidence that he brought back with him [from Triple-A],” Woodward said. “He’s been able to make some adjustments. He was just trying to survive. Now you're actually starting to see him settle in, have quality at-bats and compete through at-bats. He’s able to execute a game plan. His swing is the same, but he's carrying himself with a lot more confidence right now, and we're starting to see the talent come out.”

White’s homer on Tuesday was also his first career home run at Globe Life Field, coming after he launched his first two Major League long balls in Houston last week. White said it definitely felt a little cooler to hit one in the Rangers' home stadium with fireworks going off and the crowd cheering as he rounded the bases.

White also said he feels like he's finally finding his stride at the big league level, something that took a bit of work for him after making his debut in 2020. Part of that is because of the confidence Woodward and the organization have in him.

“It shows that they believe that I can do it,” White said. “It creates more confidence, like there's a reason they're giving me a shot and putting me in the lineup, because they they believe in me. I’m just trying to keep working hard and perform the best I can and hopefully I'll prove them right.”

Other than White's exploits, the Rangers couldn’t get much going offensively against the A's and lefty Cole Irvin until the bottom of the fifth, when they tagged on four runs on four hits and a walk. But the comeback attempt fell just short, even as homers from White and Joey Gallo put the squad within striking distance at 9-6 in the bottom of the eighth inning.

White’s homer, crushed an estimated 440 feet, went even further than Gallo’s 423-foot blast.

It was a high-scoring affair on both sides of the ball, with Oakland notching a season-high 15 hits and 13 runs against the Rangers' pitching staff.

Texas pitchers Taylor Hearn (4 ER in two-thirds of an inning) and Brett de Geus (3 ER in 1 1/3 innings) struggled, putting the Rangers in an early 9-0 hole. When Jordan Lyles, who was originally scheduled to start the game, came in out of the bullpen next, he allowed two quick runs but quickly righted the ship, shutting the A’s down five shutout innings after that until Oakland plated four more in the ninth to quash the Rangers' comeback plans.

Woodward said he was happy his squad was able to drive a comeback attempt, even if it fell just short.

“These guys don't quit,” Woodward said. “They had quality at-bats, I felt like, even after they were down 9-0. It was quality at-bat after quality at-bat, even though we didn't have much to show for it. Overall, I thought our offense actually did a really good job tonight.”