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Tampa Bay Rays' Jonathan Aranda, background, is forced out at home plate by Texas Rangers catcher Austin Wynns on a double play by Chandler Simpson during the fourth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) (Chris O'Meara/AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It’s hard to watch these recent Rangers, the ones who’ve climbed back into first place in the AL West and who’ve created their biggest — although still modest — lead of the year and not think: This is Skip Schumaker’s team.
This is a team that has taken on the identity of its feisty, scrappy manager and turned itself into a winning group.
It’s Wyatt Langford fouling two balls off his foot and staying in the game to rap out hit after hit. It’s Nathan Eovaldi asking for and grabbing the baseball while still ill. It’s Nicky Lopez doing whatever is asked in the situation and it’s Alejandro Osuna running hard on everything.
Tuesday, it was a whole bunch more than that in a 4-1 win over Tampa Bay, holder of the AL’s best record. It was journeyman Cal Quantrill taking a shutout into the sixth by taking advantage of an aggressive Rays lineup. It was Jake Burger diving into first to make the last out of an inning. It was journeyman Austin Wynns, coming back from a catcher’s interference call early in the third inning, to make a strong relay on a pitcher-to-home-to-first inning-ending double play. And it was Wynns, playing in his third game as a Ranger, hitting a momentum-shifting homer after the Rays had cut the lead to one in the sixth. It was Ezequiel Duran taking a fastball squarely off his left wrist, hopping around in pain, then stealing second and scoring a fourth run.
It was a team-first win, which is what Schumaker stressed from the start of spring training.
There have been a few of those lately.
“It’s hard to describe the identity, but you know it when you see it,” Burger said. “You look at contributions up and down the lineup from different guys every single night. It's kind of hard-nosed, never-quit baseball. It’s a group that refuses to give up.
“It’s what this organization needs and has needed, and I think that's come to life here recently.”
Like in the past month. They are 17-10 since June 25, going from four games below .500 to three above after Tuesday’s win. It matches the season’s high-water mark last reached in the fifth game of the year. They’ve won close games, winning their last seven one-run decisions. They’ve won against playoff teams and those chasing them in the West, going 10-7 against Cleveland, Houston, Atlanta, the Chicago White Sox, Seattle and Tampa Bay. In doing so, they’ve built their lead in the AL West to a season-high 2.5 games, pending the outcomes of Houston and Seattle, which were both playing on the West Coast.
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ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - JULY 28: Ezequiel Duran #20 of the Texas Rangers celebrates with teammates after a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on July 28, 2026 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) (Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
On Tuesday, the biggest stars were Quantrill, who flipped his repertoire to rely on off-speed stuff to slow the fastball-hunting Rays, and Wynns, who only joined the club a week ago.
Quantrill threw splitters for 30 of his 69 pitches (43%); it was a giant deviation from his regular usage of about 19%. In so doing, he more sparingly used his four-seam fastball and sinker. And it worked. Got through the order the first time perfectly.
Then found trouble the second time through when Jonathan Aranda singled and Junior Caminero doubled with one out. After Wynns was charged with catcher’s interference to load the bases, Quantrill went back to the splitter against Chandler Simpson, who topped it back to the mound. Quantrill lofted a soft throw home for the force and Wynns made a strong throw to first to complete the inning-ending double play against one of the fastest players in the big leagues.
“He made a great pitch,” said the 35-year-old Wynns, who replaced injured Kyle Higashioka on the roster after being selected from Triple-A. “He made a great play to me. It floated to me and I just gripped it and ripped it. It was a momentum change that we needed.”
And when the Rangers needed a momentum shift again three innings later, Wynns provided that, too. Tampa Bay cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth. In the top of the seventh, Wynns, who had entered the game 5 for 58 (.077) for the season during brief stints with the A’s and Atlanta, caught a 2-1 sinker that didn’t sink from lefty Steven Matz and drove it just inside the left field foul pole to make it a 3-1 game.
Wynns also had a nine-pitch walk earlier in the game against starter Griffin Jax to push up his pitch count. Jax did not get through the sixth.
“Both of those were big moments,” Schumaker said. “The big home run helped us swing the momentum back to our side. You’re still not comfortable, but it was a lot easier to figure the bullpen out once that happened.”
It’s getting easier to figure these Rangers out, too, which is something we didn’t think we’d be able to say a month ago. But they’re now Skip Schumaker’s team. And with the trade deadline looming, that’s a declaration of intent.
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