Wyatt Langford kept swinging like a hitter who cannot be rushed, and the Rangers needed every bit of it in a 4-3 win over the Padres at Globe Life Field. His three-run homer in the third inning changed the game, and Josh Jung later delivered the go-ahead RBI single that sent Texas to a series win.
Langford and Jung powered the top of the order for Texas, combining for 4 hits, a walk, 4 RBIs and a run scored from the Nos. 1 and 2 spots. The Rangers took two of three from San Diego and stayed two games behind first-place Seattle in the AL West.
Langford keeps carrying the offense
Langford finished the series 7-for-13 with 7 RBIs, and over his past 9 games he has hit .432 with 4 home runs and 11 RBIs. Since returning from the injured list on June 5, five of his six home runs have come in that stretch, and over his past 21 games he is batting .345 with five doubles and 13 RBIs.
Texas manager Skip Schumaker said Langford is back in form and still growing into the role the club expected from him. “He’s back,” Schumaker said, adding that Langford is “a difference-maker in the lineup” and “an MVP type of player.”
A game that flipped twice
Texas jumped ahead 3-0 in the third when Kyle Higashioka walked, Nicky Lopez reached on a bunt single and Langford pulled Lucas Giolito’s first pitch past the left-field foul pole for a 403-foot shot with an exit velocity of 105.4 mph. The Padres answered in the fourth with six hits and tied the game at 3-3.
Jackson Merrill doubled to start the inning, Gavin Sheets drove in a run with a single and Xander Bogaerts added another RBI hit before Sung-Mun Song tied it with a double to right. Sheets also tried to score on Bogaerts’ single, but Langford’s throw to Ezequiel Duran and Kyle Higashioka cut him down at the plate.
The Rangers answered immediately in their half of the fourth. Lopez singled, Langford reached again and Jung lined an RBI single to left to score Lopez and restore the lead at 4-3.
Eovaldi steadies after the rough inning
Nathan Eovaldi earned the win for Texas, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits over 6 innings with 9 strikeouts. He was pushed back a day from his planned start because of soreness in his left knee, and Schumaker said he was still “50-50” on whether Eovaldi would take the ball Sunday.
Eovaldi said he had a strong feel for his splitter, but he was frustrated by the fourth inning when the Padres erased the lead. “I feel like I just have to be better in that situation,” Eovaldi said, noting that he needed to make Manny Machado and Bogaerts beat him away instead of challenging them inside.
Peyton Gray, Robby Ahlstrom and Jakob Junis then combined to hold San Diego scoreless over the final three innings. Junis earned his fifth save, although he had to work through trouble after giving up singles to pinch-hitter Fernando Tatis Jr. and Bogaerts in the ninth.
Junis recovered by striking out Ty France, getting Sung-Mun Song to fly out to left and inducing Rodolfo Durán into a forceout to end it. That finish preserved a win that was driven by Langford’s power and Jung’s timely hit, while the Rangers continued to lean on a young lineup that is producing at the top.
