ARLINGTON -- When Jonathan Ornelas stepped into the box for his first Major League plate appearance on Saturday night, the moment seemed ripe for another storybook first for the 23-year-old, who scored the game-winning run as a pinch-runner in his debut in August.

With the bases loaded and two outs in a 2-2 game in the 7th, Ornelas didn’t deliver the clutch hit that evaded Texas on Friday. But he didn’t need to.

Robbie Grossman scored what became the game-winning run on a wild pitch, and the Rangers breathed a big sigh of relief after a 3-2 win at Globe Life Field over the Athletics snapped a four-game losing streak.

• Games remaining: vs. OAK (1); at TOR (4); at CLE (3); vs. BOS (3); vs. SEA (3); at LAA (3); at SEA (4)
• Standings update: The Rangers are 1 1/2 games back of both the Mariners and Blue Jays for the final American League Wild Card spot. Texas is 3 games behind Houston, which leads the AL West.

It wasn’t the prettiest of wins against last-place Oakland, as Texas worked just five hits, all singles. But the Rangers entered Saturday stuck in a 4-16 skid.

“When you get in a rut like this, you take any win you can,” manager Bruce Bochy said.

Here’s three signs that Texas could be breaking out of its rough stretch as it heads to a key four-game series vs. Toronto after Sunday’s finale:

Bullpen bends but doesn’t break
When Chris Stratton allowed a two-run home run in the sixth to Zack Gelof that tied the game at 2, it was déjà vu for the Rangers.

Gelof’s shot was the league-leading 26th homer allowed by a Texas reliever in the past 21 games, which has led to the club’s struggles in relief (7.06 ERA during the 4-16 stretch).

But despite allowing some traffic on the bases, Texas’ two most important high-leverage options came in and shut the game down. Will Smith and Aroldis Chapman combined for 2 1/3 shutout innings after a strong Martín Pérez bulk outing (2 2/3 scoreless innings).

“For these guys, I’m sure it’s a sense of relief,” Bochy said. “It’s been a tough go.”

When Pérez shut down a bases-loaded jam in the third and Will Smith struck out Kevin Smith to end the eighth, both relievers roared as they stepped off the mound. And for Chapman, who was 1-for-4 in his past four save opportunities, Saturday was a relief indeed.

Eovaldi returning to form
When Nathan Eovaldi returned from a right forearm strain on Tuesday, the rust showed not just in the results (four runs in 1 1/3 innings), but also in his velocity and stuff, losing around 1 mph on both of his fastballs.

On Saturday night, however, Eovaldi’s four-seam and cutter velocity were both nearly to his season average, and he showed why he was the Rangers’ ace before his injured list stint.

“This time, I felt a lot more comfortable out there,” Eovaldi said. “Today, I just felt like I had that extra life on my pitches. I felt like the cutter was cutting, the slider had the movement [and] the splitter was doing what it’s supposed to be doing.”

Eovaldi induced 10 swings-and-misses through just his first two innings, including six whiffs on splitters -- after just one whiff in his first start vs. Houston. Despite hitting his pitch limit (around 45-50 pitches) after allowing two singles in the third, it was an encouraging start for who will be the Rangers’ No. 1 or No. 2 starter if they make the playoffs.

Taveras turning it around
Leody Taveras is no stranger to slumps, after struggling in the second half of 2022.

After recovering for a strong bounceback start to 2023 (.812 OPS before the All-Star break), the center fielder started to slump in the second half again, slashing .195/.228/.322 in the second half of July and August.

But Taveras has picked it up recently, collecting his fifth multihit performance in his past seven games. His current 11-for-25 stretch includes a big RBI single in the 6th on Saturday.

"He’s really doing some things that he was doing earlier in this season,” Bochy said of Taveras. “He’s quiet up there, laying off pitches. Just throwing out some really nice at-bats.

“We pushed him a little bit by moving him [up] in the order, and he’s handled that very well.”