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Texas Rangers’ Nicky Lopez (33) Ezequiel Duran, center, and Wyatt Langford, right, celebrate at the end of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals in Kansas City, Mo., Thursday, June 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/Colin E. Braley)<\/p>\n
Colin E. Braley\/AP Photo\/Colin E. Braley<\/p>\n
KANSAS CITY, Mo. \u2014 The\u00a0Rangers<\/a> had reason to be salty Thursday, forced to sit through more than two hours of a ginned-up rain delay lacking in any actual precipitation so that the host Kansas City Royals could protect a thinned out pitching staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was the perfect opportunity for a team looking for an edge to find one.\u00a0<\/p>\n Good news: They got a win. Better news: They finally got back to .500 for the first time in seven tries dating back five weeks. About the edge: Hey, it\u2019s a still work in progress. \u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The Rangers rode out a 4-2 win over Kansas City on a mostly sun-swept Thursday to get to 34-34, but it came the hard way on a day when it should have come much easier. But at least they tried. They ran hard and bunted often, though with mixed results. They at least looked the part of an inconvenienced and annoyed team. It’s the thought that matters. Well, almost as much as Jacob \u201cHigh Leverage\u201d Latz, but more on him in a minute.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think we showed killer instinct,\u201d manager Skip Schumaker said. \u201cI think we might have gone too far, being too aggressive sometimes, and it maybe cost us some extra runs. But I\u2019d rather have the edge and try to do things. If it doesn\u2019t work, at least we tried and we know what we can\u2019t do again.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n Texas Rangers’ Corey Seager (5) celebrates his home run with Brandon Nimmo, left, during the third inning of a baseball game in Kansas City, Mo., Thursday, June 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/Colin E. Braley)<\/p>\n Colin E. Braley\/AP Photo\/Colin E. Braley<\/p>\n Though they scored in each of the first three innings, they couldn\u2019t knock out Michael Wacha and get to an overworked and terrible Royals bullpen to give their own young starter, Kumar Rocker, more breathing room. The Rangers had three runners tagged out at third base in the first six innings. They also had a bunt go awry, leading to one of those outs at third. Rocker couldn\u2019t work efficiently enough to give himself more leeway. And, so once again, it fell to the lefties to hold down the fort. Robbie Ahlstrom and Latz combined to allow one baserunner (later eliminated on a double play) over 3 \u2153 innings of work.\u00a0<\/p>\n Latz, pitching for a second straight day, was asked to pitch the eighth because the Royals string of tough lefties was coming up. The Rangers figured he had maybe 20 total pitches to work with and were prepared to go with somebody else in the ninth. Latz needed just seven pitches to get through the eighth and eight in the ninth. He was so good, he cost himself his fourth two-inning save of the year; the official scorer instead awarded him the win. Now, comes the next question since it\u2019s All-Star season<\/a>: Will MLB officially recognize just how valuable he\u2019s been?\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cHe just reminds me so much of Tanner Scott in my first year in Miami,\u201d Schumaker said. \u201cWe didn’t really know what Tanner was going to bring, and then you look up and he’s pitching the highest-leverage games and ends up being an All-Star-caliber closer. Jacob is getting righties, lefties, eighth inning, ninth inning. He\u2019s been as good as anybody I\u2019ve been around and I\u2019ve been around some good ones.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n So an All-Star closer, Skip?\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s an All-Star caliber pitcher, whatever you want to call him,\u201d Schumaker said. \u00a0<\/p>\n Latz acknowledged being a little annoyed when he entered the game, not by the situation at hand, but like most of the rest of the team, peeved at being held over unnecessarily in Kansas City. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe all kind of brought that out there today from the beginning,\u201d said Latz, who lowered his ERA to 1.69. \u201cIt was a day game after a night game, getaway day, we\u2019re all trying to get a little extra fuel and we let that carry us a little.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Members of the Kansas City Royals grounds crew remove the infield tarp after a more than two-hour rain delay before a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Kansas City, Mo., Thursday, June 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/Colin E. Braley)<\/p>\n Colin E. Braley\/AP Photo\/Colin E. Braley<\/p>\n The game was delayed by 2:20 due to the threat of rain, though no measurable rain actually fell at Kauffman Stadium before the scheduled game time or during the delay period. There was, however, the possibility of self-interest in the Royals\u2019 decision to delay the start. One official with knowledge of the delay discussions acknowledged Kansas City\u2019s own pitching issued was a key in the decision making.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kansas City had used seven relievers Wednesday after Seth Lugo took a line drive off his forehead<\/a>, four of them for a second consecutive day and another for 39 pitches. The Royals were effectively without at least five of the eight relievers in the bullpen and could hardly afford to start a game, then have a delay that forced them to go to the bullpen early.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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