The Texas Rangers put together one of those nights where the box score tells the story before you even get to the details: 10 runs, 17 hits, and a win that looked like a grind for a while before turning into a rout.
Texas spent much of the early game stacking chances without getting the one hit that usually unlocks everything. By the time the Rangers finally cashed in with a hit with runners in scoring position, they had already piled up eight hits.
That first RISP knock came in the bottom of the fourth, when Ezequiel Duran lined an RBI single to bring home Texas’ fifth run. Before that, the Rangers had scored in all kinds of ways - an Elias Diaz solo homer, a bases-loaded walk, a sacrifice fly, and a Josh Jung RBI double after a Nicky Lopez single.
That odd sequencing only mattered because Texas kept finding ways around the missed chances. Against a floundering Framber Valdez, the Rangers kept the pressure on and built a lead that looked sturdy enough for Nathan Eovaldi to cruise with.
For four innings, he did exactly that.
Eovaldi was missing bats, piling up strikeouts, and keeping Detroit hitless through the first four frames while Texas kept adding on. Then the fifth inning changed the feel of the night.
Colt Keith opened the Tigers’ scoring with a solo homer on a 0-2 pitch that was well above the zone. After the first out of the inning, Detroit suddenly started stringing together damage: four of the next five hitters reached, and Hao-Yu Lee launched a two-run homer from the No. 9 spot.
Just like that, a comfortable 5-0 edge had tightened into a 5-3 game, with the tying run on base and Eovaldi suddenly on the ropes.
He got the final out of the inning, but the trouble wasn’t done. After a double to begin the sixth, Eovaldi’s night was over after five innings.
He struck out nine, but for one of the rare times, he didn’t have enough in the tank to finish the job. That left the bullpen with four innings to cover.
The offense made sure that assignment didn’t get too stressful.
Josh Smith, pinch hitting for Justin Foscue, started the sixth with his first homer of the season, a solo blast that pushed Texas back into firmer control. Then came the inning that really blew the game open. In the seventh, six straight Rangers reached with two outs, and Alejandro Osuna, Lopez, and Smith each delivered RBI singles as Texas finally turned all those early empty chances into a full-on avalanche.
Evan Carter added one more exclamation point in the eighth, launching his seventh homer of the year for the Rangers’ 10th run.
The late innings belonged to a bullpen mix of Tyler Alexander, Peyton Gray, Robby Ahlstrom, Cole Winn, and Gavin Collyer, who combined to work the final four frames and keep Detroit from mounting any real answer while the Texas bats kept coming.
The win closed out a brutal 15 games in 15 days stretch that began with a loss to Minnesota on June 18. Texas went 10-5 over that run and still climbed to the top of the AL West.
Josh Jung stood out in a crowded offensive field. Hitting second, he finished with a double, a run, two walks, and two RBIs, and he also got robbed of what looked like another double that would have left him on base in every plate appearance.
The Rangers get a rare Friday off before the series picks back up Saturday, with RHP Kumar Rocker set to pitch for Texas against RHP Jack Flaherty for Detroit.
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