Texas Rangers pitcher Jakob Junis throws to the Seattle Mariners in the ninth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Tony Gutierrez/AP
ARLINGTON — Results matter.
No, the Rangers aren’t really hitting, especially at home. No, there isn’t much they can do about it, either, other than find alternative ways to manufacture runs. The fences aren’t coming in, at least not this year; can’t make changes to dimensions in-season. So, yeah, sure, there’s a lot of things not happening to consider.
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But, results still matter. And on Tuesday, with a 3-2 win built on a Kyle Higashioka homer and the newly formed Jakes and Bake due at the back of the bullpen, the Rangers found a way to take a series from Seattle and beat George Kirby in the process. Hadn’t done the former in almost three years. Hadn’t done the latter, well, ever. That matters to a team trying to find its way back.
RELATED: Kyle Higashioka leads Rangers to a breakthrough against Mariners pitcher George Kirby
“To rebound like this shows you what we have in that clubhouse, just veteran guys that are worried about winning the day and not worried about what happened, whether they won or lost the day before,” manager Skip Schumaker said of a team that has rebounded from losing four straight to take the first two games from the defending AL West champs. “They’re just coming in, trying to execute and trust their process, doing what we talked about in spring training. Seattle is a really tough team. They execute all facets of the game. They’re really well coached and managed, and they pitch as well as anybody, and they have a dangerous lineup.”
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There was nothing about sending a message or anything like that, but hey, there is historical precedent. In 2023, two weeks into the season, the Rangers went to Houston where they’d absolutely been overwhelmed for much of the previous five years, won two of three and helped fuel the hot start that they rode into the postseason, and you know what happened after that.
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The Rangers hadn’t won a series from Seattle since the final weeks of that 2023 season, sweeping them in Arlington with about two weeks to go. Then they lost two out of three on the final week of the season to lose the division title and make the road rougher for themselves in the playoffs. Spoiler alert: It worked out OK.
But it was the start of nine consecutive series losses to Seattle. The Rangers went 6-20 against the Mariners in that time and an inordinate number of losses came via painful one-run decisions. The Rangers were 3-10 against Seattle in those games. They’ve begun 2026 winning consecutive one-run decisions.
It began with Nathan Eovaldi, in his 300th career start, rallying back from two subpar starts loaded with two-out rallies. Eovaldi allowed a homer on the first pitch of the game, then a two-out, run-scoring single in the fifth. In the bottom of the inning, though, Joc Pederson hustled to beat out an infield single and forced a throwing error in the process, and Evan Carter followed with a run-scoring single. When Higashioka then got a 0-1 sinker up, he lined it just over the left-field wall to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead. It was the first homer Kirby, previously 8-0 in his career against Texas, had given up in his last 61 innings against the Rangers. Eovaldi then pitched out of a two-out jam to get through the sixth.
It left things up to the Rangers bullpen and — surprise! — the Rangers may have stumbled into their new high-leverage duo: Jacob Latz and Jakob Junis. Jake Squared. Jakes and Bake. We’ll workshop the merch. Because we might need to.
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Latz, pitching for the third time in four days, pitched two perfect innings on 23 pitches. He’s held batters to an 0-for-28 to start the season, pitching in multiple roles, including a spot start. It’s the longest o-fer by a Rangers pitcher, ever. Also, if you want to do the math, it’s one out more than the equivalent of a no-hitter. Not that Latz would want to discuss that. But he’s also turned the page about as well as could be asked for a guy who had his heart set on starting this season. Junis then picked up his second save in as many nights, doubling his previous career total. And he did it by working through five consecutive left-handed hitters. No easy task for a right-hander.
“I still enjoy pitching out of the bullpen and in leverage situations,” Latz said after pushing away any talk about his early-season success. “That’s where they want me out right now. And to go multiple innings and keep our team in the lead, that’s just as satisfying as starting.”
Said Schumaker: “He’s as valuable a piece as you could have on your pitching staff.”
So, do the Rangers go Jakes and Bake to finish things out from here on? Well, probably not Wednesday if they have a chance for a sweep. Latz is gonna need a break, and it’s hard to imagine asking Junis to go three straight days, even though he’s thrown only 19 pitches in those two games.
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Perhaps they’ve found something that works, probably best not to burn it out too quickly.
But, does Schumaker like the look long-term?
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“Well, I loved it tonight,” he said.
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Because it got results. And results matter.