Las Vegan Gallo stars in major league debut— VIDEO
ARLINGTON, Texas — Sometimes a player lives up to every bit of his hype, and on Tuesday night in his major league debut, that’s exactly what Las Vegan Joey Gallo did.
Gallo, the No. 1 prospect of the Texas Rangers who was recalled from Double-A Frisco earlier in the day, went 3-for-4 with a single, double, home run, a walk, two runs scored and four RBIs in a 15-2 rout of the Chicago White Sox.
“I definitely did not think this was going to happen in the first game,” said Gallo, who hit sixth and played third base. “I was just going to be happy to get on base in the first game, so I definitely overachieved my goals there.”
First-year Rangers manager Jeff Bannister devoted much of his postgame news conference to discussing Gallo’s impressive debut, starting with a nearly three-minute opening statement with plenty of dramatic pauses, stoppages that made it evident how happy he was to be front and center for such a big night.
“This is why I get to do what I do and why I love what I do,” Bannister said. “Incredible evening for a young man. Really rarely do they come up and meet all of the expectations in their first night. I can’t describe really truly how I feel, getting to sit and watch it.”
In the first inning, Gallo, who starred at Bishop Gorman High School, came to the plate with the bases loaded and two out. He delivered a two-run single, sending an 85 mph slider from Chicago starter Jeff Samardzija through the legs of first baseman Adam LaRoche, a ball the official scorer ruled a hit because it took a bad hop.
“I was just trying to put the ball in play,” Gallo said of the hit in his first big league at-bat. “I was just happy to hit it.”
Gallo’s second plate appearance came in the third inning when, with one on and one out, he drilled Samardzija’s first pitch, a 92 mph cut fastball, into the right-field stands for a home run, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. Gallo’s first big league home run traveled 418 feet and put the Rangers ahead 6-2.
After receiving some prodding from Rangers designated hitter Prince Fielder, Gallo left the dugout briefly for a curtain call, a new experience for the 21-year-old slugger.
“I’ve never done that before,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure it was for me. I didn’t know what was going on.”
His third at-bat came in the fifth when, with none on, one out and a 1-2 count, he blasted a 92 mph cut fastball from Samardzija off the top of the right-field wall.
Initially, it appeared Gallo had connected for his second homer, as the Rangers’ home run music, the theme from “The Natural,” started playing inside the stadium. But the ball deflected off the top of the wall, and Gallo slid into second just ahead of the throw from right fielder Avisail Garcia.
“It (hearing the home run music) messed me up,” Gallo said. “I started jogging and almost got thrown out at second base. I didn’t get all of it obviously, but thought I had enough of it.”
With two on and none out in the sixth, Samardzija was replaced by Dan Jennings, who struck out Gallo on four pitches. Jennings threw Gallo nothing but sliders, sending him down swinging after throwing him ball one.
Despite striking out, Gallo received a rather noticeable ovation from the crowd of 27,558.
“Hopefully they keep doing that,” he said. “That makes me feel a whole lot better, but, no, I haven’t ever gotten a standing ovation for striking out.”
About the only thing Gallo didn’t do in his debut was make a play in the field. Amazingly, he didn’t have a ball hit his way the entire game.
Gallo’s final plate appearance came in the eighth against Hector Noesi. With a runner on third and none out, Gallo worked an eight-pitch walk, then scored on Carlos Corporan’s three-run homer.
Gallo’s parents, Tony and Laura Gallo, were in attendance and joined him on the field as he did a postgame interview. And once his debut was over, he had secured the baseballs from all three hits but had no intentions of keeping them for long.
“I’ll probably just give them (my parents) all of them so I’m not lugging them around, losing them and stuff,” Gallo said. “(I’ll) just give them to them and let them send them back to Vegas.”
