Texas Rangers closer Jacob Latz, right, celebrates the final strikeout with catcher Kyle Higashioka (11) ending the ninth 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 — The Rangers have an especially dangerous weapon in Jacob Latz.
It’s best to be careful with dangerous weapons.
On Friday, Latz pitched the final two innings of the Rangers’ 3-2 win over Cleveland to pick up his ninth save. It was the third time this year he’d picked up a two-inning save, a feat that has become increasingly rare in baseball. Over the previous six seasons, only one pitcher, Pittsburgh’s David Bednar in 2022, has had as many as four such saves.
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Including a four-out save he had earlier in the season, Latz and San Diego’s Mason Miller are the only pitchers this year with four saves of more than one inning. It’s good company.
“We can’t do this every single time,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “It’s not helpful for him. And I really care about him. He has been incredible so far this year, and we must protect him. I felt good about it today, but it’s impossible to do all season.”
He felt good because the Rangers found themselves holding a one-run lead in the eighth with Cleveland’s most dangerous hitter, switch-hitter Jose Ramirez, due up. And though Ramirez’s splits favor him facing lefties, Schumaker has maintained Latz is the Rangers’ highest-leverage pitcher, to be deployed against an opponent’s biggest threats, regardless of whether it’s the eighth or the ninth.
It’s why Schumaker has not called Latz the “closer,” even though he is closing games. He’s 9 for 11 in save opportunities now, saved back-to-back wins during the Rangers’ recent five-game winning streak, and no other Ranger has had a save since April 12.
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“We felt like with a one-run lead we wanted our best against their best,” Schumaker said. “I’ve said that many times. We talked about it before the game. If it was a one-run lead in that lane, that’s where we were going to go, and then see where his pitch count was, and potentially go to [Jakob] Junis in the ninth inning.”
His pitch count was fine. Latz got ahead of Ramirez with a slider on the inside corner, then at 1-2, he got a 96.3-mph fastball in on his hands in the same place he’d thrown a slider two pitches earlier. Ramirez was so surprised by the location that he challenged the call, but the ball was fully inside the zone. It was master work against a disciplined hitter. Then he retired the next two hitters on three total pitches, giving him only eight for the inning. It set him up to be able to come back for the ninth if needed. It was needed.
The ninth was a bigger burden. He walked a batter and allowed a two-out single before striking out Brayan Rocchio with a full-count 95-mph heater at the top of the zone with Junis warming up. He threw 27 pitches in the inning, giving him a 35-pitch outing, tied for the most pitches in a relief outing for him this year.
The question now becomes when he will next be available. He’s certain to be down on Saturday, but could he come back on Sunday if the Rangers have a chance to win the series?
This is where his experience and training as a starter comes in. Last year, he toggled between the bullpen and rotation and regularly put up higher pitch counts. But his role wasn’t as well defined. He put together his maintenance routine based on the higher pitch counts.
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“I feel like I’m able to handle higher workloads because of my experiences,” Latz said. “[The Rangers] have been really clear on communication this year and they’ve told me days I’d likely be asked to go [two innings] and today was one of them because I’d had two days off.
And so how does the wanna-be-starter-turned-old-fashioned-multi-inning-closer feel about his newfound superpower? Well, like any superhero, he realizes he must wield it responsibly, but he’s all about setting new standards.
“I saw guys do it in the past,” Latz said. “[Josh] Hader was notorious for going two, so I’ve seen people do it, so that makes me aware that I can do it too. It gives me a lot of confidence that they trust me in that situation. It all gives me more incentive to attack.”
All of which sounds great. But only if the Rangers use this weapon sparingly.