Josh Smith becomes the third Texas Rangers player to secure a walk-off home run against the Houston Astros.
ARLINGTON—The Texas Rangers’ first walk-off home run of 2024 couldn’t have come at a more opportune moment.
Josh Smith’s two-run homer in the 10th inning on Monday secured a win over the Houston Astros, tightening the American League West standings. The Rangers are now 3.5 games behind the Astros and 5 games behind the first-place Seattle Mariners.
Smith became the third Rangers player to hit a walk-off homer against the Astros, joining Adolis García (May 21, 2021) and Mitch Moreland (June 21, 2011). This is the Rangers’ first walk-off homer since García’s game-winning shot against the Twins on September 3, 2023.
“Every game is pretty important to us now,” Smith said, noting that he’s having a career-best season with 12 homers. “So to do it in that situation, against that team, with where we’re at right now, is pretty significant. They’ve got a couple of games on us, so this series is crucial.”
The Rangers are desperate to turn a win such as Monday night into something that helps ignite an extended winning run. Except for a couple of five-game winning streaks, sustained stretches of winning has, so far, eluded the club in 2024.
“It’s kind of been the story of this year,” Smith said. “We’ll have a really good win and then struggle for a few games, so hopefully, this can push us over the edge to win the series tomorrow and keep the momentum going.”
Starting pitcher Andrew Heaney, who allowed just one run on an Alex Bregman solo homer over six innings, acknowledged that the clubhouse is aware of the need to start accumulating wins.
“Obviously, it was a game we needed to win. We feel like we need to win every game,” Heaney said. “We’re going to keep approaching it like that. We’ve got to keep piling on, and we haven’t been doing that. Tuesday’s game is starting fresh, so we just need to come in and play well.”
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy emphasized the significance of the series for everyone involved, including the Astros.
“You always hope it builds momentum,” Bochy said of the win. “It’s a great win for the team. They fought hard. These are important games, and we all recognize that. I love the way they came out and played.”
