Gore's Big Out Sets Up Rangers' 4-3 Comeback Win Over Athletics
Having confidence in his young lefty, Skip Schumaker left MacKenzie Gore in the game to get what was a momentum-swinging out.
ARLINGTON, Texas -- In the fifth inning, Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker walked to the mound to take the ball from starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore, who was up over 100 pitches with two outs in the frame. Upon arriving at the mound, Schumaker turned back around and walked straight back to the dugout. Having confidence in his young lefty, Schumaker left Gore in the game to get what would be a momentum-swinging out to end the inning.
Gore’s huge out paved the way for a Rangers 4-3 comeback victory over the Athletics at Globe Life Field on Saturday night. “As I was coming out of the dugout, sometimes you wanna see what the pitchers are doing, if the pitchers kinda walking around and kicking dirt on the rubber, I kinda have an idea that’s it,” Schumaker said after the game. “As soon as I got on the top step, [Gore] was looking at me like 'I got it' that made me think harder because the at-bat coming up was a hit and a walk and really good at-bats against MacKenzie in the game, so that was really where I had [Cole] Winn coming into the game,” Schumaker explained.
“He convinced me that he got it, and you want to see that from a player… You have to trust your players, [Gore] felt good enough that he was going to get that out, and it ended up being a really big out,” Schumaker said. Gore’s final battle was a picture of a bigger war in which he labored to give the Rangers five innings, allowing just three runs on a night where he threw multiple labor-intensive innings. From there, it was the Rangers' bullpen who took over, using four relievers to fire four scoreless frames, capped off by a save from Jacob Latz, who fired a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
Offensively, it was once again Josh Jung who wound up as the hero, providing a huge two-run home run in the sixth that ended up being the game-winner. Jung now has 13 extra-base hits in his last 13 games, the most in a 13-game span since Rougned Odor back in 2018. “I’m not sure where we’d be without Josh right now,” Schumaker said.