ARLINGTON — He didn’t spend spring training in Surprise, Ariz., where the Texas Rangers practice defensive scenarios for six weeks before the regular season begins, but second baseman Nicky Lopez nonetheless estimated that the relay he and his teammates executed must’ve mirrored the drills they ran in camp to a tee. 

“It was pretty special,” Lopez said, “it was pretty perfect.” 

The Rangers turned a game-saving relay in the ninth inning of a 2-1 win vs. the Baltimore Orioles at Globe Life Field on Friday night to maintain an American League wild card position, reclaim a .500 record and kickstart a crucial series against one of the teams in pursuit of them with a victory. 

“It’s do or die,” Díaz said. “That was on my mind.”

Home plate umpire John Libka called Taveras out on the field, but given the stakes, the Orioles challenged. The decision was upheld after a two-minute review, and Latz, who recorded his sixth save of two or more innings this season, struck out pinch hitter Christian Encarnacion-Strand on four pitches to end the game. 

“Honestly, I thought Taveras was going to be standing up [at home plate] when [Franklin] hit it, because he was flying,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “It just kind of bounced right to Nimmo and the relay throw was great. You don’t see that play made too often by a catcher and it was obviously a game-saving play.”

Said Lopez: “My job was just to just get it close to Díaz, I guess, and Díaz did an unbelievable job of making a great play.”

Díaz (who, unsurprisingly, said that the umpire’s decision was “100%” correct) also had a not-so-insignficant hand in how the Rangers acquried a lead in the first place. The Rangers had all of one hit vs. Orioles starting pitcher Shane Baz — a Brandon Nimmo single in the team’s fourth at-bat of the game — before the seventh inning. Díaz led that frame off with what amounted to a swinging bunt that fell between Baz and first baseman Pete Alonso, snapped the team’s 0-for-12 drought and scored two at-bats later on a Joc Pederson home run. 

Schumaker said that the Rangers “got that game because of Joc,” though he did acknowledge starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi’s quality outing, the bullpen’s three-plus scoreless frames and the defensive play. Pederson, whose 21st home run of the season was hit hard (110 mph) and far (413 feet) into the right field seats, had more to say about the relay than his own feats. 

“That saved the game,” Pederson said. “That was a really good one.”