MINNEAPOLIS — The Texas Rangers kept their American League West hopes alive entering Game 162 with a 6-2 win over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday in Minneapolis, getting the decisive production from the bottom of the order rather than the top.
The Rangers' bottom four hitters — Nicky Lopez, Danny Jansen, Evan Carter and Alejandro Osuna — along with pinch-hitters Cody Freeman and Justin Foscue, combined to go 7-for-15 with a walk and four RBIs, including a home run from Jansen, while cleanup hitter Jake Burger added a solo homer in the fifth inning. "That's what we're asking for," manager Skip Schumaker said. "There's a lot of guys that want to be the guy, and maybe there's a little bit of pressure on them because of wanting to be the guy so bad for their teammates. That's totally fair. But that's why I keep saying it's the collective. It's the nine guys that have to do this thing together. You just can't focus on just one guy. If we're focusing on one guy that's replacing JJ or replacing Joc, it's not going to work."
The outburst came with Texas playing without its two most productive hitters. Joc Pederson and Josh Jung were lost in the last two weeks to a fractured left hand and right wrist, respectively, leaving Schumaker to stress that his "dudes need to be dudes" even when unavailable. "It's OK to be emotional at the time," Schumaker said. "You can feel some emotion behind losing your one- and three-hole hitters. But the reality is, [there are] two games left. As terrible as this is to say, you have to move on as fast as you can. It's callous. I get it. But next man up. Guys have to step up when guys get hurt. Who is going to step up for two days?"
The victory moved Texas to 80-81, a half-game ahead of Houston (79-81) atop the AL West entering Sunday afternoon's finale. The Astros, playing the A's in West Sacramento, could re-tie the Rangers by the end of the night, but Houston owns the tiebreaker after winning the season series, leaving the division crown to be decided on Game 162.