Trevino stars in all facets in Rangers' loss

ARLINGTON -- In the bottom of the fifth inning Wednesday night, Rangers catcher Jose Trevino was literally inches away from a solo home run that would cut the Mariners' lead to one. Instead it hit on the top of the left-center field wall, as Trevino scrambled around the basepaths and settled for a double.

He wouldn’t get that homer back, but he would ultimately get the RBI when he rocketed a two-out double down the first base line at 98.6 mph in his next at-bat to score Andy Ibáñez from second. Trevino went 2-for-3 at the plate while also making multiple highlight plays behind the plate.

Despite his efforts, the Rangers were unable to secure a comeback win, falling 3-1 to the Mariners in the second game of a three-game set at Globe Life Field.

“He’s been working really hard on his swing,” said Rangers manager Chris Woodward. “I don't know how that ball hit that corner of the outfield fence and went right. I thought it was physically impossible for him to do that. He got a little bit unlucky there to have hit the ball 410 feet for a double. He had the big hit there for the run, the RBI double down the line. For him to kind of have the game he had, I know that'll give him a lot of confidence.”

The Rangers out-hit the Mariners 8-5, but went just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, which would ultimately make the difference.

Woodward said he was frustrated specifically in the bottom of the sixth inning, when Isiah Kiner-Falefa led off with a double. A squandered opportunity and three straight outs followed. Trevino and Kiner-Falefa accounted for half of the Rangers’ hits. It was only the third time in Trevino’s career in which he recorded multiple extra-base hits in a single game.

“We can’t seem to finish overall,” Woodward said. “We’ve got to string together three or four good at-bats in a row. We’ve got to find a way to score. And that’s on all the guys behind Kiner after we got to find a way to get that guy to third base and score … We ended up scoring the next inning [on the Trevino double] so it’s a totally different game.”

Additionally, Trevino’s play behind the plate was noteworthy.

With Mitch Haniger trying to go from first to home on a Kyle Seager double, the Rangers defense perfectly executed a 9-5-2 relay from Adolis García to Yonny Hernandez to Trevino, who made a flawless tag at the plate to get Haniger out and save a run.

Trevino also threw out two runners stealing second in the loss. It’s only the fourth time in his career that he’s thrown out multiple runners in the same game. Woodward said that’s part of the game that Trevino has been working on recently.

Before tonight, Trevino had caught just four runners stealing all year.

“It was a really good day, throwing out two guys,” Woodward said. “It’s something I know he's had a little bit of trouble with, and he's been working really hard at it. He's always been good at game calling and receiving -- that's kind of a given -- but he's working hard.”

Woodward said that Trevino and fellow catcher Jonah Heim have been brilliant at game planning and framing this year. They both put in a lot of work with the pitchers to be able to build that trust and chemistry with everybody on the staff.

Rangers starter Mike Foltynewicz, who took the loss against the Mariners, added that Trevino is “pretty special” behind the plate.

“He’s such a good catcher,” Foltynewicz said. “That’s what a catcher needs to do, we always have to be on the same game plan. He wants it really bad and we’ve both got a lot to prove. It's just been fun getting to hang around with him. We all have a good connection.”