Texas Rangers’ Josh Jung hits an RBI single to drive in the go-ahead run off Colorado Rockies pitcher Juan Mejia in the ninth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 20, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
David Zalubowski/AP Photo/David Zalubowski
DENVER — The defense-averse designated hitter was in a slick right field partly because the starter lost a negotiation, the manager made an ambitious, offense-first play, two left-handed hitters rose to the occasion and two doses of catcher chaos extended the affair.
“We go through a bunch of scenarios before the game,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “That was not one of them.”
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This, however, for a National League-bred manager in the National League’s wackiest ballpark, might’ve been.
“Thirteen guys were used today and it took all of us,” third baseman Josh Jung said. “It was awesome to see.”
You’d need to see it to believe it anyway.
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The Rangers, in a 5-4 win against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field Wednesday afternoon, needed every last position player and then some to execute a ninth-inning rally and escape with a series win. Jung drove in the go-ahead run with a one-out single, left-handed pitcher Jacob Latz earned the win, though the confluence of events that led to both couldn’t have been scripted.
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No, seriously, even the mastermind behind it all adamantly joked that “that’s not how I drew it up” in his postgame debrief.
The Rockies, if anything, had it drawn up well. They brought left-handed pitcher Brennan Bernardino on in the top of the ninth inning to face at least two hitters — center fielder Evan Carter and designated hitter Joc Pederson — who’ve combined for all of one hit against southpaws this season. Schumaker, a fan of tactical substitutions, had depleted nearly his entire bench in the game’s first eight innings and was devoid of substitutes who could play the outfield after right fielder Brandon Nimmo exited with hamstring tightness when he conceded an argument to remain in.
Schumaker’s only reserve left to use was catcher Danny Jansen. He chose to pinch hit Jansen for Carter, the first hitter that frame, because “the leadoff batter is the most important hitter.” It also triggered a potential defensive pinch if the Rangers tied the game or took the lead in which Pederson, effectively a designated hitter only at this stage of his career, would need to play the outfield in the bottom half of the inning at a rainy stadium where balls tend to fly.
“You worry about defense after you tie or win the game,” Schumaker said. “We knew Joc was going to have to go to right if we tied it or won it, but that was a chance we were willing to take, and we had to worry about that after we scored the runs.”
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Jansen struck out before Pederson worked a five-pitch at-bat and reached base on a catcher’s interference call. He advanced on a single from second baseman Justin Foscue, his seventh hit of the series, took third on an infield hit from left fielder Alejandro Osuna, who’d had only one against a southpaw all season prior, and chased Bernardino from the contest. The Rockies brought on right-handed pitcher Juan Mejia to face Jung with the bases loaded, but when his fastball bounced off catcher Brett Sullivan and into the grass behind home plate, Pederson sprinted in and tied the game.
“I thought our best chance was potentially to get [Jansen] on base,” Schumaker said. “I knew Joc was going to fight his way on somehow. I didn’t have the catcher’s interference on my list of things that could potentially happen. That’s what we needed to happen. Something crazy always happens at Coors Field. That wasn’t one of them, I didn’t think, but it’s the start that we needed.”
Jung, four pitches after the passed ball, reached for Mejia’s sweeper and slapped it into left field to score Foscue and give the Rangers a lead.
“I just spread out and tried to touch it,” Jung said, “and just battle.”
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The Rangers were forced to battle after right-handed pitcher Jack Leiter sacrificed what was once a three-run lead. Shortstop Ezequiel Duran and first baseman Jake Burger hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning to give Leiter a cushion. In the fourth, though, Leiter loaded the bases and walked in a run on an automated balls and strikes challenge that overturned a would-have-been strikeout. In the fifth, the Rockies scored twice on a triple and two singles to take a one-run lead.
It forced the club’s high-leverage arms into action, and after right-hander Jakob Junis and left-hander Tyler Alexander both pitched scoreless frames, the Rangers turned to Latz for the eighth. He pitched a scoreless frame but felt some pain in his knee. After he “convinced” Schumaker to leave him in for a second inning and after the club rallied, he pitched the ninth.
He didn’t realize that Pederson was in right field until the public address announcer said so over the stadium speakers.
And, naturally, the first batted ball of the inning went directly to him.
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“Of course the first fly ball hit is a high fly ball to right field,” Schumaker said. “Doesn’t surprise me at all.”
Even if it can’t be scripted.