MINNEAPOLIS -- In the span of two weeks, the most important weeks of the season, the Rangers lost their two most productive hitters -- Joc Pederson and Josh Jung -- to a fractured left hand and right wrist, respectively.
Manager Skip Schumaker has said repeatedly over the last month that the Rangers need their “dudes to be dudes.” But that’s hard when the dudes aren’t available.
“It's OK to be emotional at the time,” Schumaker said pregame on Saturday. “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?”
On Saturday, it wasn't the remaining metaphorical dudes that stepped up. It was the bottom of the Rangers’ lineup -- Nicky Lopez, Danny Jansen, Evan Carter and Alejandro Osuna -- that led them to a 6-2 win over the Twins to keep their season alive going into Game 162 on Sunday afternoon.
“That was an incredible fight,” Schumaker said postgame. “Multiple guys banged up who did not want to come out of that game. They knew what was at stake. It all started with [Nathan Eovaldi], and what he provided was just insane. That was one of the gutsiest performances I've seen in a long time. That's what it's all about. I’m proud to be a manager of this team. That was just fun to watch and be a part of.”
The win moved the Rangers (80-81) ahead of the Astros (79-81) atop the American League West by one-half game. Houston similarly is playing for its life against the A’s in West Sacramento and could retie Texas by the end of the night. Either way, the division crown will come down to the final game. The Astros own the tiebreaker thanks to winning the season series.
In Saturday’s win, the Rangers’ bottom four hitters -- including 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. And, for good measure, cleanup hitter Jake Burger launched a solo homer of his own in the fifth inning.
“That's what we're asking for,” 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.”
And it wasn’t just the bottom of the order, though they did account for four of the six runs scored.
All nine Rangers starters recorded a hit in the win, the fourth time this season and second time in September that they’ve done that. The four doubles in the second marked their most in a single inning since May 2, 2009, against the White Sox.
“It's gonna take all of us,” Jansen said. “Losing Joc and Cat, they’re two guys that are huge bats for us, and it’s just gonna have to [take all of us]. We showed that we're willing to do small ball and all that stuff too. That's part of our identity. And it's going to take one through nine. It was pretty cool to have the bottom show up tonight. We just pride ourselves on trying to pass the baton to each other and keep the line moving.”
It’s almost fitting that the battle for this division will come down to Game 162. Neither the Rangers nor the Astros will finish with more than 81 wins, the fewest of any division winner in a full season, just beating out the 2005 Padres (82-80). Neither the Rangers nor the Astros have been able to take advantage of one of the weakest divisions in baseball history.
It hasn’t been an easy road for Texas, right up to this last weekend, when Jung went down with a hand fracture. But there’s still a chance to see October.
“It's a chance, and we're excited for it,” Jansen said. “We're gonna control what we can. Let's go out there and leave it all in the field.”
“Those guys don't go down without a fight,” Schumaker added. “You can tell that they play for each other. They're gonna give every single ounce they have and empty the tank, especially this last week. They have never quit on me. They've never quit on each other the whole year. It might be a .500 record right now. Do I think they are a better-than-.500 team? Of course I do. They all do as well. The identity is on the surface to me.”