Energized by Seattle's late-night comeback, Rangers pull atop AL West

ARLINGTON -- As the Rangers filed out of Globe Life Field on Wednesday night, the Astros-Mariners game -- which had just started in Seattle -- played on multiple televisions in the center of the home clubhouse.

The two Texas teams had entered Wednesday's slate of games tied atop the American League West, but the Rangers had just dropped their third game in a row. Meanwhile, the Astros put up a four-spot in the third inning against the team trailing them both in the division standings.

Things felt … bleak to say the least.

But after a 10-inning, 3-hour-and-18-minute duel, the Mariners came out on top of the Astros. After all the dramatics of the day, the Rangers ended the night exactly where they ended the previous one: tied with the Astros atop the AL West (78-80).

“I think everybody was pretty locked into that game last night,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said pregame on Thursday. “We still have a shot. That's all you wanted. We went to bed feeling a little bit different than we did after a tough loss [earlier in the] night.”

“We're grateful to be in the spot to be able to watch a game last night and to feel good about coming into the ballpark the next day after a loss. That doesn't always happen. Not every team is in that position. I feel like today is going to be a good day.”

Schumaker was right. It was a good day.

The Rangers beat the Mets, 3-1, on Thursday, handling their own business while waiting for the Astros to play the A’s on the West Coast later this evening. Texas temporarily moved into sole possession of first place, a half-game ahead of Houston.

They did it on the back of one of starter Kumar Rocker's best appearances of the season, along with a pair of homers from Josh Jung and Corey Seager.

“There's still a pulse,” Schumacher said. “As long as we still have a pulse, we're good to go. We have that. That's the fun part about where we're at right now. … But we have to win. That's the other part of this thing. I said that last night, if we don't win, it doesn't matter. The scoreboard watching is more fun when you win.”

Jung, who finished a triple shy of the cycle, said he felt like the team came in revitalized on Thursday after watching the Mariners walk off the Astros. Nobody wants to rely on other teams to get into October.

But the Rangers are well aware of the position they’re in right now.

“It just gave us life, you know?” Jung said. “If you go down a game, that's tough. So Seattle coming back and winning that game, everybody was just like, ‘Deep breath. We can still do this thing.’”

Rocker picked up his sixth win of the season in what was basically a postseason start for all intents and purposes. He turned in five innings of one-run ball, cruising through the final four frames after allowing a pair of hits in the first inning. He permitted just one hit following the first.

“I think we're all watching the game last night,” Rocker said. “You go to sleep knowing what you're up against. And the guys came in today, and we're all ready to go to battle.”

Though nobody wanted to divulge the specifics of what took place in the team group chat, it’s clear the entire team was locked into the Astros-Mariners result. It’s even clearer that it had an effect on the energy coming into today.

The Rangers were gifted renewed life by the baseball gods and a middling division on Wednesday night. They took advantage on Thursday. Now there’s three more games left to decide their fate.

“Again, we still have a heartbeat, still have a pulse,” Schumaker said. “I felt like we’ve come out to play the game with our chest out and our chin up and we're letting it fly. That's the main thing. We gotta play loose and play our style of baseball … if we play our brand of baseball with the way that they feel right now collectively, we're going to be OK.”