Travis Jankowski of the Rangers declines special offer following Catch of the Year against the White Sox
Travis Jankowski didn’t want any special treatment after saving the Rangers in their latest win over the White Sox.
Travis Jankowski and Andrew Chafin with a bunch of crying laughing emojis in the background
The Texas Rangers picked up a pair of victories over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday, and the second game of the night was quite dramatic. With two runners on base and only one out, Andrew Vaughn hit a fly ball deep out to left field, and it appeared set to be a walk-off home run. Instead, Travis Jankowski made a spectacular leaping grab to rob it, ensuring that the game would continue.
Texas would eventually get the final out to win the game, but without Jankowski’s efforts, that would not have been possible. That wasn’t lost on reliever Andrew Chafin, who was the pitcher who nearly gave up the home run to Vaughn. After the game, Chafin offered Jankowski a hug and a steak dinner as a reward for saving his skin, but the outfielder turned down the steak dinner, and said the hug was good enough.
“Jankowski said Chafin gave him a big hug and offered to buy him a steak dinner. ‘I said, ‘Naw, man. Your friendship and the hug’s good enough,’ and then he gave me another hug,’ a grinning Jankowski said.” – ESPN
Jankowski was only thrown into the game in the ninth inning as a defensive replacement for Wyatt Langford, and it’s safe to say he made his mark. Not only did this catch literally save the game for the Rangers, but it is without a doubt one of, if not the best, catches of the season across the entire MLB, which only makes it more impressive.
While Jankowski hasn’t exactly had a productive season at the plate for Texas (.195 BA, 1 HR, 10 RBI, 8 SB, .491 OPS), he proved with this play why he’s still in the majors. Jankowski is an elite defender at all three outfield spots, which makes using him as a late-game defensive replacement a shrewd move, because there’s no guarantee that Langford, who he replaced, would have been able to make this play.
In what has been a trying season for Texas as a whole, it was awesome to see Jankowski make this crazy play to preserve this win. Albeit, it came against the worst team in the league in the White Sox, but you can bet the team will try to keep the momentum going when they go for the series sweep on Thursday afternoon.
