Texas Rangers’ Logan O’Hoppe (4) and Ezequiel Duran, right, celebrate Duran’s solo home run in the second inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Tony Gutierrez/AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
ARLINGTON — Here’s the great thing about having a guy nicknamed “The Solution” on your roster: The possibilities are endless.
For most of the season, the Rangers have viewed Ezequiel Duran as the answer for whatever defensive needs came up. Shortstop out with a back injury? He’s your solution. Third baseman’s calf is barking? There’s “The Solution.” Need a second baseman? Got a solution.
But it doesn’t have to stop there.
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On Sunday, with the Rangers’ need for offense reaching emergency levels, manager Skip Schumaker moved Duran to center field, the first time he’s ever started at the position in the majors, against lefty Yusei Kikuchi. Wasn’t anything wrong with Evan Carter. The Rangers just needed more offense. And pushing Duran to center allowed for some other moves, including making sure energetic Cody Freeman and just-recalled Logan O’Hoppe got into the lineup.
Seemed like a pretty good, um, solution. Duran’s second-inning homer got the Rangers on the scoreboard first — an imperative for their success — and both O’Hoppe and Freeman followed with hits to extend the rally, sparking a 5-3 win over Los Angeles.
“Zeke is an everyday player,” Schumaker said. “Can I tell you where he’s going to play every day? No. But I think he gives us the best chance to win every single day. He has proven that, and whatever position he’s in.
“You’ve seen the defensive alignments, but you’ve also seen the offensive alignment. Today we went for offense. No doubt about it. There are two sides to this thing. Today was trying to figure out how do we score runs because we haven’t scored many lately. We’ve got to take a look at everything. All things are being considered at this point.”
Especially since the Rangers, despite going just 10-9 in a stretch against teams under .500 in the three weeks after the trade deadline, vaulted back into a tie for first in the AL West Sunday with 31 games to play. Houston blew a six-run lead at home and lost 7-6 to Sacramento. The Rangers also hold the third wild card spot, thanks to a tiebreaker advantage over Cleveland.
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They are in a playoff race. And in a playoff race, you have to find what works in the moment. Schumaker learned from his own experience under Tony La Russa in St. Louis during some offensive cold stretches for the Cardinals. Schumaker, by his own admission, was a “terrible” second baseman, yet because he could hit right-handed pitching, he often found himself in the lineup there against right-handers.
“We were looking for offense first and defense late,” is how Schumaker described it.
None of this is to diminish Duran’s defensive ability in center or Carter’s value in the organization. But, at the moment, it sure looks like a potential — dare we say it again — solution.
Carter is hitting just .196 with a .618 OPS for the season. The overall numbers are dragged down by his profound ineffectiveness against lefties, but they are also down against right-handers. He is slashing just .211/.317/.364/.681 against right-handers. It is the fourth-worst batting average against righties among the 81 left-handed hitters with at least 300 plate appearances against them. The OPS ranks ninth-worst. In August, against those losing teams, Carter is hitting just .148.
Before his very particular run-prevention skills can make an impact, the Rangers must have a lead to protect.
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Right now, getting both Duran and Freeman, who had a run-scoring triple Sunday and is 6 for 18 since his recall 10 days ago, into the lineup to start the game becomes the priority. Sometimes the Rangers can play both in the infield. Sometimes, it works best if Duran goes to the outfield.
“I’ve said before that at-bats are earned and, at this point, we have to go and play the hot hand as much as we can,” Schumaker said. “And this is not just about Evan Carter. This is a collective group we are trying to kick start.”
And if you think scoring runs has been difficult for the last three weeks, it’s only going to get more challenging. The Rangers begin a road trip Monday that takes them to the Central Division leaders in both leagues. That alone is a challenge. Then factor in the Rangers’ lack of road success. They’ve lost their last five road series, dating back to the beginning of July. They have the ninth-worst road record (29-37) in the majors this season.
After three games at the Chicago White Sox, the Rangers go to Milwaukee, which has the second-best ERA in baseball. They may get a break and escape whiz-kid Jacob Misiorowski, but, if they do, they’ll likely face two lefties there. It could give them four matchups against lefty starters in their next seven games, which would likely relegate Carter to the bench anyway.
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All the more reason to consider all possible solutions. And what better place to start than with THE solution.