Adolis crowned as Texas’ rookie HR, RBI king

ARLINGTON — Pete Incaviglia doesn’t remember the last time he was in Texas to watch a game. He figures he had actually never been to one at the old Globe Life Park when he wasn’t playing in it.

On Sept. 17, Incaviglia returned to Arlington, where he played for the Rangers from 1986-90, because he heard somebody was closing in on his rookie records, he joked. The former big league outfielder had 30 homers and 88 RBIs in 1986.

Incaviglia was hoping that Texas’ rookie sensation, outfielder Adolis García, would do so with him present.

García didn’t hit his 31st home run that night against the White Sox. Instead, 13 games later, García finally broke two of Incaviglia’s records after he launched a two-run, 403-foot blast in the Rangers’ 7-6 win over the Angels at Globe Life Field on Thursday afternoon.

García said he wasn’t exactly pressing to get over the hump, but he was anxious for it to finally happen and he’s thankful to get it out of the way. 

“I know he was ,” said Rangers manager Chris Woodward. “I know I was, as his manager. I’ve been wanting it so bad for him. You knew that on the next swing that went out of the ballpark, [he] was gonna set both records. I’m glad he did it on one swing. He’s obviously had a heck of a year, being an All-Star and all the accolades he deserves. To break that record is a pretty cool moment.”

García now sits at 31 home runs and 90 RBIs in his rookie season, overtaking both of Incaviglia’s club marks.

“I didn’t even know I still held the records,” Incaviglia joked. “I figured somebody would have broken it by now, with all the great young players to come through here. I was mostly surprised that it was still there. Records are made to be broken. He’s a great player. I’m just surprised it was there after 35 years.”

After notching two hits in the win, García has 139 base knocks this season, the third most by a Texas rookie behind Bump Wills in 1977 (155) and George Wright in 1982 (147).

García is also just the 14th rookie in American League history with 30-plus homers and 90-plus RBIs in a season and the third in the last 24 years, joining José Abreu in 2014 and Aaron Judge in 2017.

In the last week of the 2021 season, García has continued to add to his AL Rookie of the Year candidacy. He leads all MLB rookies in RBIs (90), extra-base hits (59) and total bases (262). He ranks second in homers behind Baltimore’s Ryan Mountcastle (32). After three stolen bases in his last three games, he’s tied for second in swipes with 16 alongside Randy Arozarena, behind Miami’s Jazz Chisholm Jr. (23).

García has said all season that his main motivation is helping the team win and get better every day, even as Texas has struggled through a 100-loss year. The comeback victory over Los Angeles was almost symbolic of that desire. 

The Angels hopped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning and the Rangers, by all intents and purposes, could have mailed it in. Instead, they battled back, first with a three-run homer from DJ Peters, then with García’s two-run shot and finally with a go-ahead two-run double from Brock Holt in the bottom of the eighth. 

“Everybody wants to finish strong,” García said through an interpreter. “It’s not just about one game or whatever, we want to finish the entire season strong so we’re able to take this to the next level next year and come in with a lot of confidence, so that we can accomplish what we’re supposed to accomplish.” 

“When you’re down 5-0 early in the first, it’s easy to kind of give up,” Holt said. “We didn’t do that, we kept battling and got big home runs from DJ and Adolis, and then we were able to tack on late there. Adolis [breaking] the record kind of lit a fire under everybody, I think.”