Brandon Nimmo turned Texas’ night against the Athletics into a one-man finishing school.
The Rangers rolled to an 8-5 win, and Nimmo was at the center of just about all of it. He went 4-for-5 with five RBIs, and every single hit he collected brought somebody home. Texas got the kind of production it wanted from the middle of the order, and this time it showed up in a big way.
Corey Seager, Wyatt Langford and Nimmo combined for eight of the Rangers’ 12 hits, five of the eight runs and six of the eight RBIs. Ezequiel Duran chipped in as well, working a pair of walks, driving in a run and flashing some leather at second base with a sensational play that kept a potential tying run from scoring early.
Texas struck first in the opening inning when Nimmo doubled in Seager with two outs. The Athletics answered with a run in the third to tie it, but starter MacKenzie Gore worked out of a bases-loaded jam to keep the damage from getting worse.
The Rangers wasted no time taking the lead back. In the bottom of the third, Nimmo singled home Seager again with two outs, and Texas never gave it back. By the fifth, Nimmo was at it once more, this time drilling a two-RBI single with the bases loaded to stretch the margin.
Texas kept adding on from there, pushing across another run in the fifth and two more in the sixth before Nimmo returned in the eighth and delivered the final blow with another two-out RBI single to make it 8-1.
The game wasn’t quite finished, though. The Athletics scratched across a run in the seventh and then scored three more off freshly-signed reliever Trevor Williams when Texas tried to squeeze two innings out of him. That forced Jacob Latz into the game with one out in the ninth, and he responded with a couple of quick strikeouts to shut the door.
The win moved Texas back within a game of .500 and pulled the Rangers back to within a game in the American League West after Houston fell to Chicago. It also gave Texas its sixth win of the season against Oakland, leveling the season series and setting up tomorrow’s finale as the decider between the AL West clubs.
For the night, though, there was no mystery about the player of the game. Nimmo made the obvious case from the start and never let go.
In Other News...
Rangers Fans May Be Stuck Tracking Another TV Switch Soon
Local sports viewing in Dallas-Fort Worth keeps getting reshuffled, and Rangers fans are already familiar with the churn. After leaving Victory Plus, the club moved its broadcasts to the BZZR app, while the Mavericks have taken a different route by putting their games back on free TV through a multi-year agreement with TEGNA. The latest shift comes from the Stars, who are set to announce Amazon Prime as their primary local TV partner starting this season.
The backdrop to all of it is the mess left behind by Victory Plus, which owes both the Stars and Rangers significant unpaid fees. For Rangers fans, the bigger concern is not just where the next game shows up, but whether the local sports market is settling into a stable solution or simply moving from one platform to another. The broadcast picture in the region has been in flux for a while, and the next change may be arriving soon enough. [Read more 🡒]
Nathan Eovaldis Next Week Just Got Huge For The Rangers Rotation
Nathan Eovaldis rehab has reached a point where the next stretch of days will tell the Rangers a lot about how soon they can realistically count on him again. The right-hander is coming back from right posterior elbow inflammation and has been throwing 50 pitches off flat ground, a useful step, but he has not yet gotten onto a mound. For a rotation trying to hold together late in the season, that makes every bit of progress matter.
Manager Skip Schumaker made clear that what happens next week will be critical in shaping Eovaldis recovery timeline and any chance he can still help the club this year. The wrinkle is the calendar, with the minor league season running out of room and potentially limiting whether Eovaldi can get a proper rehab assignment in before the Rangers have to make a decision on his return. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Just Made A Bullpen Move That Could Matter In September
A strong night from Jacob deGrom helped the Rangers breeze past the Athletics 8-1, but the bigger roster note came before the game as Texas added veteran reliever Trevor Williams on a major league contract. With MLB rosters expanding to 28 players on Sept. 1, the Rangers also brought up infielder Cam Cauley from Triple-A Round Rock, giving the club a little more flexibility as the season enters its final stretch.
The bullpen move stands out because Texas has been trying to patch things together after injuries to Peyton Gray and Cole Winn left the relief corps thinner than it wants heading into September. Williams gives the Rangers a proven arm to lean on, and the timing suggests the club is looking for immediate help while keeping an eye on how the back end of the staff holds up over the next few weeks. [Read more 🡒]