Texas Rangers Come from Behind Dramatically to Steal Game Two of First 2026 Series Against Royals
The Texas Rangers came out of game two of their three-game series against the Kansas City Royals victorious as they came back from a two-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth, with a final score of 7-6. This win now extends the Rangers' win streak to two games, with a record of 27-31 and third place in the American League West. The Royals, however, fall to 22-36 and lose their fifth in a row, and are sitting in fourth place in the American League Central. These two teams will face each other one more time tomorrow at 1:35 p.m. CDT before the Rangers travel to St. Louis to face the Cardinals, with Michael Wacha starting for the Royals and Jack Leiter taking the mound for the Rangers.
It Was Great to See Kumar Rocker Shine on the Mound for Once
It’s no secret that the inconsistencies of Kumar Rocker starting on the mound for the Rangers have had fans holding their breath during the first inning, especially because the righty gives up an 11.00 ERA in the first inning alone. Regardless of this stat looming over the head of the 26-year-old, that didn’t stop him from having an excellent performance today. In his outing, he pitched six complete, scoreless innings in 85 pitches, only allowing three hits, three walks, and two strikeouts. He bounced back beautifully from his rough outing against Houston earlier in the week. Even though he only got two strikeouts, he relied heavily on soft contact and escaped major trouble. What’s great about seeing the young man have a great game is that he can build off of this performance and become more confident in his pitching arsenal, especially because the Royals have a relatively good batting lineup, with players such as Vinnie Pasquantino, Bobby Witt Jr., the veteran catcher Salvador Perez, and the young phenom Jac Caglianone highlighting their batting order. It’ll be interesting to see how Rocker does in his next start, with it most likely being next week back home in Arlington as the 34-25 Cleveland Guardians visit the Rangers.
Joc Pederson Deserves to Stay at the Leadoff Spot
Joc Pederson has been on an absolute tear at the plate, swatting five home runs in his last five games. In those last five games, he’s hitting a .300 AVG, a slugging percentage of 1.050, six hits with five of them being those home runs, seven runs batted in, with only one walk. This game further solidified the idea of having the power hitter at the top of the batting lineup, as he came up absolutely clutch in the bottom of the ninth. Down 6-4, the two-time all-star was patient at the plate, despite falling behind 0-2 in the count, and smashed a 90 MPH changeup that stayed in the middle of the plate at 108 MPH, traveling 367 feet to right field to get his team within a run. This home run trend began three days ago, on May 27th, with a multi-home-run game against the Astros. Despite his team losing that game 4-3, it shows that Skip Schumaker is comfortable keeping Pederson in the leadoff spot, as he can pop off at any time.
The Once-Dominant Bullpen Needs to Shape Things Up Sooner Rather Than Later
On paper, the bullpen opened the year as one of the most dominant groups in baseball. Through April, Texas boasted the best bullpen ERA in MLB, holding steady at 2.82. However, as of late, they’ve come back down to Earth and have created that anxiety that Rangers fans have come to know and love. Take today’s walk-off win as a perfect example, as things weren’t as easy as they seemed when the game first started. The Rangers were able to get out to a 3-0 lead for the first six innings of the game, but when Rocker was taken off the mound, the usually shutdown reliever, Tyler Alexander, was inserted and allowed the first run for the Royals. Then, Schumaker had seen enough and put in extended-reliever Jakob Junis in, but he gave up three runs on back to back to back hits to give the Royals a 4-3 lead.
To make matters worse, Schumaker continued to insert veteran Chris Martin in the bullpen and out on the mound, but that backfired. The 39-year-old, who carries a 7.84 ERA with only seven strikeouts in 12 games, threw a low-end cutter into the middle of the strike zone to Carter Jansen that was blasted 364 feet for a two-run home run to extend the Royals' lead 6-3. Now, that may seem bad right now, but the Rangers have reinforcements on the way, as Robert Garcia, Carter Baumler, and Cole Winn are recovering from injuries but should be making a return to the lineup later in June. With a walkoff win under their belt, this should add fuel to the fire for the Rangers' bullpen to protect small leads and take the pressure off of the batting lineup so they won’t have to become desperate in the batter’s box, which can further lead to mistakes and frustrating results. In a division where all the teams are in a tight race, regardless of their record right now, efficient outings from the bullpen are what will make or break the Rangers and can define their season.
