The sliver of hope stays alive.

Down 5-1 against the Rays in a must-win game, the Rangers fought back in one of the most satisfying games of the season, on a day when Houston, Baltimore, and Toronto—who are all ahead of them in the division and wildcard races—all lost.

Texas scored four in the bottom of the fourth to tie it. Two in the fifth to go ahead 7-5. Gave up one in the seventh but put up an insurance run in the eighth. 

In the end, the Rangers beat the Rays 8-6, split the four-game series against Tampa Bay, and had a winning 4-3 record in their seven-game homestand.

MacKenzie Gore did what MacKenzie Gore does. He gave up lots of runs early: five in three innings. But Jake Burger pulled the Rangers out of the jaws of defeat. First, with a second-inning solo home run to get the on the board. Then with a fourth-inning two-run shot to set comeback in motion. 

Justin Foscue tied it with a two-RBI double. Elias Diaz drove in the go-ahead run, then Ezequiel Duran singled home another. Corey Seager homered to end the scoring.

That’s Burger, Foscue, Diaz, Duran, and Seager with big RBIs. That’s production up and down the lineup. That’s what the Rangers needed to do, and still need to do, to keep this flicker of hope alive with 18 games left.

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