ARLINGTON, Texas — Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said Jake Burger set the tone for the Texas Rangers‘ offense in an 8-1 win over the Athletics on Monday night at Globe Life Field.
Burger went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored. He doubled off Gage Jump in the second inning and singled home Corey Seager in a three-run fifth.
Schumaker said Brandon Nimmo‘s two-out RBI was one of several two-out hits Texas got.
“Jake Burger had a fantastic game tonight, really good,” Schumaker said. “We had some good big two-out hits too. Brandon Nimmo with a big two-out RBI. Freeman we talked about. But Jake Burger was so good. Some really good quality at-bats. We had quality at-bats up and down the lineup, but Jake Burger kind of set the tone as far as swinging the bat and really hard contact. He obviously clipped him last time in Sacramento, so he had a good feeling about it coming into the game, and he provided some really nice offense.”
“The bases loaded has been the nemesis for sure, and the stuff that I’d rather talk about scoring them and not scoring them than not scoring them,” Schumaker continued. “And today was one of those really good offensive days carried over from yesterday, which we hoped, and hopefully we carry it over again tomorrow.”
Jake Burger’s Night Against Gage Jump
Burger’s double came in the second inning, an inning that produced the game’s first 2 runs. Nimmo led off with a swinging-bunt single that Jump bobbled, Burger doubled behind him, and Justin Foscue flied out to shallow right field. Elias Díaz grounded out to shortstop to score Nimmo, and Cody Freeman singled to center to bring in Burger.
Texas loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth and scored all three runners. Nimmo hit a sacrifice fly to left field to bring in Ezequiel Duran, Burger followed with his single, and Evan Carter grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Wyatt Langford.
Jump allowed 6 hits, 7 runs, and 3 walks in 4 1/3 innings and fell to 6-9. The rookie left-hander threw 91 pitches, 53 of them for strikes, and generated 14 swinging strikes. Chris Roycroft followed with 2 2/3 scoreless innings, and José Suarez allowed 1 run in the eighth.
Texas Rangers With Runners In Scoring Position
The Rangers finished 4-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 6 on base. They collected 9 hits and drew 5 walks, and 6 of their 9 hits came against Jump.
Freeman went 2-for-2 with runners in scoring position. Nimmo went 1-for-1. Burger went 1-for-1. Seager did not have an official at-bat with a runner in scoring position because he walked twice, and he scored both times.
Freeman finished 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and added his first stolen base of the season, taking second off Jump and Jonah Heim. He singled home Burger in the second inning and drove in another run with a single to left in the eighth.
Nimmo finished with 2 hits, 2 RBI, and a run scored, and he has 53 RBI. Foscue hit a 417-foot home run to left-center field in the fourth for his 10th of the season. Carter’s fifth-inning fielder’s choice was his 33rd RBI.
Texas scored in four consecutive innings, from the second through the fifth, and added a run in the eighth.
Jake Burger’s Season
Burger’s double was his 21st of the season. He is batting .238 with a .301 on-base percentage and a .427 slugging percentage, with 23 home runs and 78 RBI.
Through Aug. 25, Burger had an OPS+ of 111 and 1.9 wins above replacement, both of which would be career highs for a full season. He has 40 walks, after drawing 12 in 103 games with Texas last season.
He homered in back-to-back games at Rate Field on Aug. 24 and Aug. 25. Through Aug. 25 he had started 121 of his 125 games at first base.
The 30-year-old is playing on a one-year, $3.2 million contract and is arbitration eligible after the season. He joined Texas before the 2025 season after two years with the Miami Marlins and hit .236 with 16 home runs and 53 RBI in 103 games in his first year with the club.
The Chicago White Sox drafted Burger in the first round in 2017, 11th overall, out of Missouri State. His career high in home runs is 34, set in 2023 between Chicago and Miami, and he has 111 for his career.
Texas is 68-70 and has won two in a row. The Rangers trail the Cleveland Guardians by 1 1/2 games for the third American League wild-card spot with 24 games left, 16 of them at home.
Left-hander MacKenzie Gore (7-10, 4.40 ERA) starts Tuesday against Athletics left-hander Brady Basso (0-1, 4.50). First pitch is 7:05 p.m. CT on Rangers Sports Network.
