Three years ago today, the Rangers woke up out of first place in the West for the second day in a row, after having owned at least a share of the top spot for 140 consecutive days.
Another thing happened that day. Evan Carter — on his 21st birthday — earned a promotion to Triple-A.
It lasted 10 days.
Over that week and a half, Carter played in eight Round Rock games, half in center field and half in left, and didn’t skip a beat. After hitting .284/.411/.451 (.862 OPS) over 97 games for Double-A Frisco, he went 4 for 6 in his first Express game and ended up with a .353/.436/.382 (.818 OPS) line in 39 Express plate appearances, the final four of which (two singles and a walk) came on the afternoon of September 6 in El Paso.
Several hours later and 600 miles to the east, Adolis Garcia, in the midst of a Gold Glove season and leading the AL with 100 RBI, went up to try to rob Michael Brantley of a home run in the second inning of what would end up a 12-3 Rangers loss to the Astros. He didn’t catch the ball.
