ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said Ezequiel Duran ran down a ball in the gap in the first inning like an everyday center fielder.
Schumaker was reviewing a 6-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night at Globe Life Field in which the Rangers scored in three separate innings.
“That’s a good question. If I knew exactly what it was, I’d tell you and I’d tell them because we’d be doing it every single game,” Schumaker said. “But it starts with the RBI from Foscue, big RBI, two-out RBI from Zeke [Duran] that fell in. Zeke ran a ball down the first inning, by the way, acting like he’s an everyday center fielder. Easy in the gap that Caminero hit. And then obviously Corey Seager with a huge home run to really open it up. We needed that. We needed the extra runs so we didn’t have to use Latz. So that was good also. Overall, good team win.”
Ezequiel Duran’s Season Across Seven Positions
Duran is listed as an infielder. He has played second base, third base, shortstop, left field, right field, center field, and first base this season, and he entered Thursday batting .276/.336/.455 with 16 home runs and 75 RBIs in 131 games. His 4.4 wins above replacement led the club.
Junior Caminero hit the ball Duran tracked down.
How The Texas Rangers Scored In Three Innings
Texas took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. Wyatt Langford doubled into the left field corner and scored on Justin Foscue‘s single to left.
Duran flared a ball to right in the fifth inning that scored Logan O’Hoppe. Corey Seager followed with a two-run homer to right after hitting balls to the warning track in left and center earlier in the game. Seager entered Thursday batting .223/.324/.404 with 13 home runs in 80 games.
The Rangers added 2 runs in the eighth inning. Evan Carter tripled home Langford and scored on Jake Burger‘s sacrifice fly. Carter entered the night batting .192/.290/.314 with 14 stolen bases in 120 games.
The extra runs kept Texas from using Jacob Latz. The left-hander has 28 saves and a 1.63 ERA over 49 appearances, and he was an All-Star this season.
Where The Texas Rangers Offense Has Been
Texas has scored 572 runs this season and carries a .243 team batting average, which ranks 16th in the majors. The Rangers have hit 157 home runs, 16th in the league.
The offense had been quiet before this stretch. Texas was shut out on Aug. 19 by Washington and scored a total of 4 runs across the first two games at Milwaukee on Aug. 28 and Aug. 29.
Cal Quantrill allowed 2 singles and 2 walks over 7 scoreless innings for the win. Jakob Junis and Chase Silseth finished the combined three-hitter, the 13th shutout of the season for Texas.
Shane McClanahan gave up 4 runs in 5 innings for Tampa Bay and fell to 10-7.
Texas is 70-71, one-half game behind Cleveland for the American League’s final wild-card spot. Friday’s game is at 7:05 p.m. CT at Globe Life Field on Rangers Sports Network, with right-hander Trevor Williams lined up as the Rangers’ opener.
