8-3 win<\/a>. The Rangers trailed 2-0 and 3-2 in the game, and won because of the continued contributions of players who either barely made the Opening Day roster, opened the season in the minors or weren\u2019t with the organization as recently as two months ago.<\/p>\nAmateur and professional scouts, the player-development department and a score of coaches have a hand in what is happening, but the players are the ones actually filling in admirably for the injured and the underproducing. <\/p>\n
Every team with playoff aspirations must have the kind of unexpected help the Rangers are receiving.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know where we\u2019d be without some of these guys that have come up through the system or we acquired late off the free-agent, waiver wire, whatever market that we got them,\u201d manager Skip Schumaker said. \u201cThey have been fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n
A look at the Fantastic Six from Tuesday, who have also taken their opportunities this season and run with them:<\/p>\n
Ezequiel Duran, util<\/p>\n
Much has been written about Duran\u2019s season, one of the biggest surprises on the team. He\u2019s an everyday player, though some wondered if he would even make the Opening Day roster as a bench piece.<\/p>\n
He did, barely, and hasn\u2019t looked back. He finished second at second base in All-Star voting thanks to steady production and a knack for driving in runs. With injuries across the field, Duran has lived up to his own nickname, The Solution.<\/p>\n
He contributed Tuesday night. The game was tied at 3 in the eighth when he singled in the game-winning run with one out for his 45th RBI this season. He also has seven homers after not hitting one in 2025.<\/p>\n
Nicky Lopez, inf<\/p>\n
A reasonably established big-league middle infielder, Lopez has some name recognition and has produced at times during his career. Yet, he didn\u2019t make the Rockies\u2019 roster out of spring training.<\/p>\n
Lopez then logged a whopping five hitless at-bats with the Cubs. The Rangers grabbed him in late May as a free agent to help shore up the infield defense with Corey Seager and Josh Smith out. <\/p>\n
Lopez has been terrific since joining the Rangers, batting .340 with a .761 OPS. He\u2019s not going to outslug anyone, but he also isn\u2019t going to strike out much while putting the ball in play and playing small ball.<\/p>\n
Lopez delivered a two-out two-run single in the second inning to erase a 2-0 Angels lead.<\/p>\n
Elias Diaz, c<\/p>\n
Another in-season free-agent signing, Diaz was added June 3 after Danny Jansen went on the injured list with a forearm issue that hasn\u2019t shown much improvement. Diaz, meanwhile, has been an upgrade after starting the season with the Royals.<\/p>\n
He has two homers and 11 RBIs with the Rangers, and the two singles he collected Tuesday raised his Rangers average to .304 (.284 overall). Like Lopez, Diaz was signed with defense in mind but has shown that he can deliver with the bat.<\/p>\n
Rangers pitchers love to throw to him. His first assignment with the team was to catch Jacob deGrom. They\u2019ve been paired together ever since.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese two guys, ever since they came on, have really saved us, quite honestly, because of the injuries, and they just keep providing offense,\u201d Schumaker said of Diaz and Lopez.<\/p>\n
Justin Foscue, inf<\/p>\n
The 2020 first-round pick came into the season with a clean slate, Schumaker said, after two disappointing seasons. Foscue was promptly injured in spring training and didn\u2019t have enough time to make up at-bats.<\/p>\n
The Rangers recalled him from Triple A Round Rock in early May and have seen him dominate left-handed pitching to the tune of a 1.186 OPS and four home runs. The fourth was his first career pinch-hit homer Tuesday, a leadoff shot in the seventh that tied the game at 3.<\/p>\n
He followed Duran in the eighth with an RBI single against a right-hander.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time I go up there and do something for the team, it feels better and better,\u201d Foscue said. \u201cI would say right now I\u2019m pretty comfortable in my role, wherever they put me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peyton Gray, rhp<\/p>\n
Foscue had tied the game, but the Rangers needed a bullpen arm to keep it tied in the eighth. Gray, the former Milwaukee Milkman reliever, got the call.<\/p>\n
Gray had a breakthrough spring, not good enough to make the Opening Day roster but good enough to be an early-season call-up. He made his MLB debut at age 30 after toiling in the minors, independent ball and Mexico.<\/p>\n
Gray tossed a scoreless inning, retiring right-handed and left-handed hitters. He was the winning pitcher, improving to 4-0 with a 2.78 ERA.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve talked about some surprising guys. Peyton Gray is probably the biggest one for me,\u201d Schumaker said. \u201cNow, he\u2019s in the highest leverage spot in our bullpen in the eighth inning, and that\u2019s a great surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alejandro Osuna, of<\/p>\n
All-Star closer Jacob Latz was warming for the ninth when Osuna came to the plate with one out, two on and the Rangers leading 5-3 thanks to Duran and Foscue. Osuna hadn\u2019t homered this season, so imagine his excitement when his drive to right field just cleared the wall.<\/p>\n
Latz sat down, and Tyler Alexander finished off the victory.<\/p>\n
Osuna has impressed with his ability to reach base (.343 on-base percentage) and for being a tough out. He is also a good defender, better than he has shown at times, and is solid on the bases.<\/p>\n
Like Foscue, he didn\u2019t make the team out of spring training and was sent to Round Rock. He knew his opportunity would come.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes we can\u2019t control those decisions,\u201d Osuna said. \u201cI don\u2019t care if I\u2019m in the minor leagues or in the big leagues, I just love to play baseball and always try to do my best. When I got to Triple A, I was just motivated to keep working hard to be up here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeff Wilson, jwilson@alldlls.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Ezequiel Duran to Elias Diaz to Nicky Lopez, the Texas Rangers have benefited greatly from the contributions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-366197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}