Texas Rangers’ Nicky Lopez reacts after scoring in the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians in Cleveland, Monday, June 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Sue Ogrocki/AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
CLEVELAND — When the Rangers clubhouse opened Monday night, moments after rookie Cameron Cauley got a celebratory beer shower following his very first MLB game and after Jakob Junis had gone to get an IV for heat exhaustion, the music blared that rock anthem that is them for all hopeful teams: “Don’t Stop Believing.”
Stop? On Monday, with a 6-3 win over Cleveland for their fifth straight road win, for maybe the first time this year, it was possible to start believing.
On a night, when they had no starting pitcher, when four players who have combined for 43% of the team’s homers sat on the bench, when they once again asked Jacob Latz to undertake superhuman relief efforts, the Rangers beat one of the game’s top left-handed starters in ways previously unthinkable.
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They got a game-changing triple from Cauley for his first major league hit. Two run-scoring doubles from Justin Foscue, who now views himself as a weapon for the first time in his career. Four solid innings of work from Chris Paddack, another just-signed castoff.
“That clubhouse right now is playing for each other and it is fun to watch,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “There are all kinds of guys coming in from waivers or from Round Rock, filling in in some big spots and showing that there is a ton of fight on that. There’s a belief that they are going to do something special every day. They are playing the game the right way. It’s just a lot of fun to see them play baseball that way.”
With each injury that mounts, it tests the idea of what’s sustainable and what isn’t, but in a wide-open AL West, one nice run, no matter how it is constructed, may be all that is necessary to take control.
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With their fifth-straight road win, the first time they’ve won five in a row on the road since 2018, the Rangers moved to a game above .500 at 43-42. It’s the first time they’ve been above .500 since mid-April. They have the AL’s best record (17-11) over the last 31 days.
They won for the sixth time on this road trip, the first time they’ve won that many games on a single road trip since 2023. They are now at .500 on the road, where they had struggled badly the last two years. After beating Parker Messick, they are 11-8 against lefties, who have given them fits for the last two years. And they are 17-14 against teams with winning records, a sign that they can stand toe-to-toe with any opponent.
Monday’s win featured big contributions from players acquired through the draft and through the hard work of the pro scouting department. Cauley, a 2021 draft pick, overcame an early error in the field to line a first-pitch changeup from Messick into the right field corner in what was a 2-2 tie in the seventh. Then he showed off his speed to turn it into a triple, becoming just the fourth Ranger to triple in their major league debut.
“It was so special to watch,” Schumaker said. “What I liked the most was the way he came back from a little adversity. “I felt like some young players, especially his age [23], might look at that a little bit differently and hang their heads. But every guy on that bench – and coaches – came up to him and said to hang in there. They stayed positive.”
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Said Cauley: “I was so locked into the vibes in the dugout. I could tell everybody’s only goal was to win. I didn’t know my stat line was from one at-bat to the next. It just didn’t matter. I just needed to go perform and do whatever the next thing is instead of reflecting. I just tried to keep moving forward and thinking ‘try to win’.”
The draft also produced Foscue, whose doubles in the seventh and ninth each drove in a run. Both hits came off lefties. He’s now slashing .385/.467/.743/1.210 for 45 plate appearances against lefties. It’s the third-best OPS for a righty against lefties in the majors. He’s found his particular niche and is thriving.
Texas Rangers catcher Elias Diaz, left, celebrates with pitcher Jacob Latz, right, after the Rangers defeated the Cleveland Guardians in a baseball game in Cleveland, Monday, June 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Sue Ogrocki/AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
The draft produced Latz, a late bloomer, but perhaps the AL’s best reliever. After Junis struggled through the seventh, he went back out to start the eighth, but Schumaker knew he was ill. The manager, who keeps saying he can’t keep asking Latz to go two innings, went to Latz for the final two innings. He worked the two perfect innings on 17 pitches. He now has an MLB-best five two-inning saves. And could be available for another game in this series.
The free agency wire, manned by scouts, produced Nicky Lopez, who has been “another [Ezequiel] Duran with his energy,” according to Schumaker. He had two hits, including the seventh-inning single that scored Cauley with the go-ahead run. Lopez is hitting .341 for his two months with the Rangers.
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It also produced Paddack, who pitched four innings behind opener Tyler Alexander, to allow the Rangers to get to the back-end of their bullpen. Paddack, most recently with Cincinnati, arrived in Cleveland at midnight Sunday, met his teammates Monday afternoon, then kept them in a game they probably shouldn’t have won.
On the bench, where he hasn’t often been this year, Brandon Nimmo, who sprained the left AC Joint in his shoulder slamming into the right field wall to secure the final out of Sunday’s win over Toronto, got a different view of the team.
“When you make winning the most important thing for that night, and however you can get that done, you get it done, you have something special,” Nimmo said. “And I do think that this group has been doing that lately. We’re doing it a lot of different ways. But the most important thing we’re doing is finding a way to make winning the most important part of the day.”
Maybe it is time to start believing in these Rangers, after all.