Texas Rangers’ Corey Seager trots to the dugout after hitting a home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Friday, June 5, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
LM Otero/AP Photo/LM Otero
ARLINGTON — Rangers manager Skip Schumaker was “excited to write down Wyatt Langford and Corey Seager’s name in the lineup” for the first time in a long time, and even after the two produced outs in their first respective at-bats, he and quality control coach Rod Barajas glanced at each other in the dugout.
“Their timing looked right, the first at-bat, both of them,” Schumaker said. “That was the most exciting part.”
That was the most exciting part?
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“I didn’t know they were going to hit a home run and a double,” Schumaker continued, “obviously.”
Obviously, but with two hitters prone to power reinserted into the lineup, the possibility is always in play. In Friday’s 3-2 win vs. the Cleveland Guardians at Globe Life Field, in which Langford and Seager were together in a big league lineup for the first time in six weeks, that possibility evolved into a necessity after their recently established offensive philosophy was effectively taken off the table early.
In the sixth inning, after catcher Kyle Higashioka hit a solo home run off Guardians left-handed pitcher Parker Messick for the club’s second hit of the game, then Langford pulled a double to the left field wall for his first big league hit in nearly seven weeks before Seager hit Messick’s slider into left-center for a go-ahead, two-run home run.
Seager had been in a career-worst, 0-for-29 hitless drought before the home run and had hit just .179 before his injury.
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“Yeah,” Seager said, “you don’t ever not want to be good.”
Was it on his mind at all before the game?
“No,” Seager said, “no.”
How did he handle any frustration he might’ve felt?
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“I don’t know,” Seager said. “You just do.”
Certain things don’t change.
The complexion of the offense did.
“You get your superstar back and you get a really good player back,” third baseman Josh Jung said. “It’s going to help your lineup.”
It was the first time in a month and a half that the Rangers were able to field what resembled a healthy lineup. The Rangers were 9-10 without Langford and Seager, but discovered a successful small-ball-oriented offensive philosophy in lieu of big swingers. They averaged 5.6 runs per game and posted a .789 OPS — the ninth-best in baseball — in the week prior to their returns because of a heightened emphasis on bunts, smart decisions on the base paths and keen situational baseball.
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Schumaker believes that the small-ball and power-present ideologies can coexist. In the case of Friday’s win, in which the Rangers were largely flummoxed by Messick until Higashioka, Langford and Seager broke through against him in the sixth, their ability to lean into one avenue when the other was unavailable paid dividends.
“I think it’s a reminder that we have to be able to beat teams in different ways,” Schumaker said. “We didn’t have anybody on base. We didn’t have a chance to do any small ball, bunt, get ’em over, anything like that. We have to be able to beat teams in different ways. Obviously having our horses back, it changes that lineup, and we have some guys in different positions now as far as lineup construction that can make it a little bit deeper.”
Langford, sidelined since April 22 with a right forearm strain that included a start-and-stop rehabilitation process, batted leadoff against Messick and will likely continue to do so against southpaws for the foreseeable future. Seager, who’d been on the injured list since May 18 with lower back inflammation, hit in the two-hole behind him. It shifted Jung into the three hole, right fielder Brandon Nimmo into the cleanup spot and up-and-down first baseman Jake Burger down to seventh in the lineup.
“The depth is there now,” Jung, who recorded the team’s first hit vs. Messick in the fourth inning. “Everyone was doing their thing one through nine, but again, you’re getting your superstar back, and Wyatt, who’s a really good player back, and you put them at the top of the lineup. Now you’ve got a pretty deep lineup.”