– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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ARLINGTON, TEXAS — One look at the Texas Rangers’ record leaves no mystery that they’re not exactly at the level where they hope they would be at the All-Star Break.
One look at the American League West standings clearly shows that the Texas Rangers are exactly in the position they wanted to be in at the All-Star Break, and hope to be at the end of the season.
Such is life in the American League, particularly in the Western Division, where even a short stretch of good play will lead you out of the outhouse and into the penthouse … even if those edifices are right next to each other on the same block.
The Rangers assured themselves first place at the All-Star Break on Sunday afternoon, as Brandon Nimmo’s walk-off single in the ninth inning secured a 6-5 victory over the Houston Astros inside Globe Life Field. MacKenzie Gore allowed just one run on four innings in an emergency start, and Texas battled back after blowing a 4-1 lead in the seventh inning with single runs in the eighth and ninth to secure the series victory against their in-state rival.
At 49-47, the Rangers are in first place in the AL West, 1 1/2 games ahead of the Seattle Mariners in a division where Texas is the only team above .500.
Rangers ace Jacob de Grom was scheduled to start before being scratched earlier in the day with a mild left glute strain, and Gore, who pitched on Wednesday, volunteered to go on short rest instead of having Texas first-year manager Skip Schumaker rely on a bullpen game. Gore allowed just a home run to Jose Altuve in the fourth to get the Rangers, who scored three times in the second, within a few innings of assuring a winning record at season’s unofficial halfway point.
“I think these guys are doing whatever they can that day to help us win,” Schumaker said. “Anything less than that, we don’t put up with it. I think that’s becoming the culture in there. It takes time to establish an identity and a culture, especially with a new manager, a couple new guys on the staff, and new players. I think that it starts and ends with those leaders in the clubhouse and giving everything they have, like MacKenzie just did.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST photo editor Ross James. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 41 pictures in total.
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