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.
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.”