Heim heating up All-Star case: 'He has to be there' 

CHICAGO -- When Martín Pérez made his first All-Star Game last season, he was constantly banging the table for catcher Jonah Heim to join him in the Midsummer Classic.

It wasn’t meant to be in 2022, but if you ask Pérez, Heim deserves it even more this season.

“He has to be there,” Pérez said after the Rangers’ 6-3 win over the White Sox Wednesday night. “He deserves it. Jonah’s been doing a great job. He has a chance and I’ll be proud of him if he gets to the All-Star team.”

For what it’s worth, Heim emphasized that he’s not worried about the All-Star Game. He’s more focused on helping the Rangers maintain their lead atop the AL West. And a .276/.327/.465 slash line with 10 home runs and 54 RBIs is definitely him doing everything possible to help the team win.

“I think the numbers speak for themselves,” manager Bruce Bochy added of Heim’s All-Star candidacy. “That's pretty strong evidence that this man should be considered to start the All-Star Game. He's leading a staff and doing a very good job. I think you look at the defensive metrics and where he's hitting in the order, the damage he's done, yeah, of course, I'm gonna say that. That’s not being biased, it’s just looking at the numbers.”

On Wednesday night, Heim continued his career-best season, going 2-for-4 at Guaranteed Rate Field, including a Statcast-projected 393-foot, three-run home run in the fifth inning to help Texas secure a series win against the White Sox.

Heim’s big day meant a little bit more coming off a controversial ending to Tuesday night’s game when he was called for a violation of the home plate collision rule, which allowed the winning run to score for Chicago.

Wednesday, after Heim hit his fifth-inning home run, he jokingly signaled for a review to the dugout as he rounded first base.

“I talked to some of the guys, we thought it'd be funny,” Heim said. “Anything we can do to have fun around here, we're gonna do it. … Obviously, whenever you can help the team win, it's good. I came up in a big situation, put a good swing on the ball and gave us some runs. In light of the situation, we were just having fun. That's why you play the game, right? You get to have fun.”

Heim added that the call from the previous night didn’t stick with him in any specific way, but Bochy felt differently.

“Jonah, he's a competitor,” Bochy said. “You don’t see a lot of that come out of him, but I think he did take that a little personal. I wasn’t paying attention to his home run trot though, I was just elated that he hit a three-run homer.”

Though Heim was the story of the night, both he and Bochy made sure to point out that the Rangers’ bounce-back victory started with Pérez on the mound. The lefty has struggled on the road this season, entering Wednesday’s matchup with a 1.71 ERA at home compared to a 6.50 ERA as a visitor.

Pérez looked on his way to another rough road start as the White Sox took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning after back-to-back base hits from Luis Robert Jr. and Eloy Jiménez, but he settled down to toss seven innings, while allowing just three runs (two earned) and secure a win.

“Last night was one of the tougher losses we’ve had,” Bochy said. “It was a tough call that went against us, but this team has shown time after time that they can bounce back. They can put it behind them and that's what they did. They can be resilient in this game and it keeps showing."