The Rangers’ 8-6 win on Sunday had the shape of a comeback, even if it didn’t really feel like one in the usual sense. They were only trailing early, then erased the deficit with a four-run fourth and grabbed the lead for good in the next inning.
MacKenzie Gore never really found a groove for the Rays. He lasted three innings plus two batters, throwing 68 pitches while the Rangers put plenty of balls in play and rarely missed.
Tampa Bay swung 33 times and made contact 29 times, leaving Gore with just four swings and misses. He also picked up only seven called strikes, so this wasn’t a case of the Rays simply sitting back and taking pitches.
The workload told the story, too. Gore saw 20 batters and recorded only nine outs.
Even with 11 runners reaching against him, one came on a Cody Freeman error and another on an intentional walk, so the line looks a little less brutal if you strip those out. Still, it was the second inning that really sank him: 10 batters, four runs, five singles, an intentional walk and an unintentional walk.
The Rays even benefited from a bunt single in that frame, one of several hits that weren’t exactly crushed.
Skip Schumaker didn’t wait long to move on. Gore opened the fourth by allowing a single and a double, and Trevor Williams came in to finish the inning.
Williams was then used again the next day, which is an interesting choice if you’re treating the game like a must-win. He gave up a sacrifice fly for the last run charged to Gore.
From there, the Rangers’ bullpen did enough. Tyler Alexander allowed a run in the seventh, but by then the Rangers were sitting on a two-run cushion.
Schumaker also flipped Jacob Latz and Jakob Junis, using Latz against the top of the order in the eighth after he had thrown 22 pitches in the previous game, then turning to Junis for the ninth after Corey Seager stretched the lead back to two with a home run. Schumaker had apparently been prepared to use Latz in the ninth if the lead stayed at one.
The offense supplied plenty of support. The Rangers finished with 12 hits and five walks, which is a lot of traffic on the bases.
Jake Burger drove the first three runs, going deep in the second for a solo shot and then again in the fourth with a two-run homer. That second blast cut the gap to 5-3 and gave the Rangers real life.
The inning that tied it turned on Corey Seager reaching on a two-out E6 with two runners aboard. That kept the frame alive for a Justin Foscue double that evened the score. In the next inning, Elias Diaz drove in Burger with the go-ahead run, and Ezequiel Duran added an insurance RBI single with two outs.
Duran finished 3 for 5 and is now slashing .277/.337/.457 on the year. The Rangers also cycled through four different DHs, which made for a pretty unusual day: Logan O’Hoppe started there, Joc Pederson pinch hit for him, Cam Cauley ran for Pederson after the walk, and Danny Jansen pinch hit for Cauley with two on and two out in the eighth.
The Rangers head to Seattle now at two games below .500, with three games there on deck. A rough series could bury them and effectively end the playoff chase, while a good one would keep them hanging around. They have an off day first, with 18 games left in the regular season.
The radar readings were part of the story, too: Gore hit 96.5 mph with his fastball and averaged 94.5 mph, Trevor Williams reached 90.6, Chase Silseth touched 96.1, Tyler Alexander maxed at 92.5, Jacob Latz got to 96.3 and Jakob Junis topped out at 92.2. At the plate, Duran had a 108.6 mph single and a 100.2 mph single, Burger’s homers came off the bat at 105.7 mph and 103.9 mph, Logan O’Hoppe had a 105.2 mph single, Brandon Nimmo hit groundouts at 104.9 mph and 102.4 mph, Elias Diaz posted a 102.1 mph single and Seager’s homer came in at 101.7 mph.
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