ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Texas Rangers rookie left-hander Robby Ahlstrom is OK not celebrating his first big league victory a second time.
That celebratory beer shower Ahlstrom got in the clubhouse after a road win in Kansas City just came four days before he was officially .
“I mean, we celebrated like I did (get the win). I mean everybody thought it was going to be that way,” Ahlstrom said before the Rangers played Tuesday, two days before his 27th birthday and a day after an appealed scoring change rightfully made him a winner.
“A little interesting finding out after the fact,” he said. “I was more thinking of like, I don’t want to go through that beer shower again.”
Ahlstrom came on with two outs in the fifth inning and a runner on in the finale of a four-game series against the Royals last Thursday. He retired all four batters he faced while Texas extended its lead to 4-2. Cole Winn then threw a scoreless inning and closer Jacob Latz finished it with two perfect innings.
Since Texas starter Kumar Rocker had exited one out shy of qualifying for the win, it was assumed by everyone — except the official scorer that day — that Ahlstrom was the winner in his fourth big league appearance, and Latz had another save.
It wasn’t until Ahlstrom checked his phone afterward that he saw the official box score listing Latz as the winner instead.
“No one wants to get beer poured on them if they don’t even get the win,” Latz said. “So we’re happy that it was actually meaningful.”
The Rangers appealed the decision by the scorer. That process included input from Latz, who noted that he had entered the game in a save situation and said Ahlstrom deserved the win.
MLB made the change Monday, with manager Skip Schumaker informing Ahlstrom just before pregame stretch and congratulating him again for his first win. His fellow relievers cheered the news.
“He got the beer shower already, so I’m glad he didn’t have to do that again,” said Schumaker, adding he was excited for Ahlstrom, who made his big league debut June 3.
“You put MLB next to it, it’s kind of cool getting your debut, your first strikeout. But the ultimate goal is to come up here and help the team win ballgames,” Ahlstrom said. “So if you have a ‘W’ next to your name, you did something right. So I think that’d be the coolest part.”
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