ARLINGTON — The Texas Rangers, not unlike a dressed up sandwich, require a bit of balance. The burger is nothing but a hapless patty stuck between bread without a dash of mayonnaise on top of it, after all, and the Rangers are no more than a could-have-been postseason contender without the blend of both.
OK, apologies to the uninitiated, or to those who’ve grown tired of the incessant food-related puns that these Rangers have wrought, but there’s a clear method to the madness of both that introduction and the improbable run this club has found itself on.
The Rangers might’ve needed a number of unlikely heroes to help jumpstart a resurgent run, but, with two-plus weeks left to play in the regular season and a number of star players still sidelined, they’ll need their expected regulars to help carry the momentum.
“Everybody does something to help out,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said Wednesday. “It’s not one or two guys, especially when you’re missing your core players, you’re not looking for somebody to carry the day.”
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Their three-game sweep of the first-place Milwaukee Brewers — in which outfielder Michael Helman (see: mayonnaise) and first baseman Jake Burger (see: well, burger) combined for four home runs to charge each win — is verifiable proof.
The Rangers beat the Brewers 6-3 at Globe Life Field Wednesday afternoon to conclude a thorough thump of the team with baseball’s best record and further increase their postseason chances. It was, notably, their first win in over a week in which the performance of an unlikely hero — be that Helman, infielder Cody Freeman or outfielder Alejandro Osuna — was not a central storyline.
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Instead it was Burger, one of the bats that the Rangers acquired this past offseason to help fuel their offense, who led the way with a pair of loud home runs and an acrobatic play at first base that required him to backpedal on the infield dirt and snag a Jackson Chourio liner for the game’s final out.
“I don’t know if [Dylan Moore and Josh Smith] were laughing at me because it was a cool play or because it looked really unathletic,” Burger said. “But I made the play.”
The Rangers, now 11-3 in their last 14 games, have made the metaphorical play more often than not lately. They’re a season-high seven games over .500 at 77-70 and have won back-to-back series vs. first-place teams. They ended play Wednesday one game behind the Seattle Mariners for the third American League Wild Card position and two games back of the Houston Astros in the division.
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It’s the closest they’ve been to first place in the AL West since May 17 and their playoff odds, for what those are worth, have crept to above 30% for the first time in over a month according to FanGraphs. Both the Mariners and Astros play Wednesday night and will shift those figures in one direction or another.
The swell play has been driven by unexpected production. Helman, who did single and score in Wednesday’s win, hit a game-tying home run in Tuesday’s win and a go-ahead grand slam in Monday’s win. Freeman scored the go-ahead run, drove in the tying run or served as the winning run in more than half of their last five wins. Osuna hit a two-run single in an extra-inning win against the Arizona Diamondbacks a week-and-a-half ago and outfielder Dustin Harris hit a walk-off single in Friday’s win vs. the Houston Astros.
Sustainability, though, became a popular question Wednesday afternoon. The quartet of Helman, Freeman, Osuna and Harris have a combined 143 games of major league experience under their belts and a larger track record as underwhelming offensive threats at baseball’s highest level than they have otherwise.
The thought that they can exclusively carry a team into the playoffs on inexperienced shoulders may be far-fetched. The thought that their presence and performance can both elevate and complement clubhouse veterans, however, is far more plausible.
“Any time you have somebody coming in here hungry, not established, ready to prove something, that’s always a good thing for the clubhouse,” Burger said. “We have a lot of those guys. They’re doing their thing, they’re playing the game really hard, and I think that’s something we can all look at and take from.”
Burger, in his attempt to match Helman’s series longball total, hit his first home run of Wednesday’s game vs. Milwaukee right-hander Freddy Peralta in the second inning and his second against Peralta in the fifth. The Rangers scored five runs in total vs. Peralta, an All-Star, after he’d allowed just two runs combined in his seven previous starts.
The first Burger blast cut Milwaukee’s lead in half. The second gave Texas a three-run advantage. Both were driven to the wall in center field with an average exit velocity of 110 mph. He’s slashed .347/.396/.714 since the All-Star break despite two trips to the injured list and, from Bochy’s perspective, is timed up well at the plate.
“More than anything,” Bochy said, “he’s strong.”
That’s grown man strength. Burger, who’s sprouted a thick beard since his return from the injured list, has the facial hair to support it.
It might help support a playoff push, too, and it might pair excellently with the infusion of unlikely talent that spiced up the clubhouse.
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