The Texas Rangers are making history Wednesday night in Kansas City.
With journeyman hurler Austin Bibens-Dirkx taking the mound, and rookie utility man Isiah Kiner-Falefa behind the dish, the Rangers will employ the first all-hyphenated battery in major league history.
In fact, Wednesday’s pitcher-catcher duo marks two of just three players in MLB history with hyphenated last names. The first hyphenated last name in the game was Ryan Rowland-Smith, who went 12-17 in 121 combined games over five seasons in the majors: four with Seattle from 2007-10 and one with Arizona in 2014.
Rowland-Smith, whose Twitter handle is @hyphen18, took to the social network to joke that he would come out of the bullpen for Texas to make the night even more historic.
Kiner-Falefa, who's played second base, shortstop and third base in his first crack at the big leagues thanks in part to injuries to Elvis Andrus, Adrian Beltre and Rougned Odor, has experience catching in the minors.
Andrus was activated from the 60-day disabled list on Monday, necessitating the demotion of one player to the minor leagues. The Rangers chose to send catcher Jose Trevino back down and keep Kiner-Falefa on the major league squad as a utility catcher of sorts.
Bibens-Dirkx was one of 2017’s best stories, going 5-2 in 24 games as a 32-year-old rookie with Texas. The highlight of the season came when he outdueled two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer in his second start.
He’s 0-1 in two spot starts this season – both at the end of May – in which he gave up four earned runs apiece.