Jul 11, 2026 3:26 AM
Updated Jul 11, 2026 3:33 AM
Wyatt Langford blasted a home run to start a four-run eighth inning and help the Texas Rangers beat the Houston Astros 7-3.
ARLINGTON, Texas -- With the game tied at 3-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Texas Rangers would need a second straight night of late-inning magic to claim a victory.
Not only did the Rangers get that magic for a second time in as many days, but they got it from the same player.
Wyatt Langford drilled a go-ahead home run in the eighth to kickstart a four-run inning as Texas beat the Houston Astros 7-3.
“He’s so dynamic” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said after the game when talking about Langford.
“He’s hasn’t taken at-bats in the last two weeks and has won us two games. He’s one of the best players in the big-leagues in my opinion…”
Just three batters after Langford’s blast, Jake Burger provided the big swing of the night, driving a three-run home run out to left-center field to put the game away.
Burger matched a season high with four RBIs in the game and extended his team lead in the category with 68 RBIs on the season.
For much of the night, it looked like the Rangers wouldn’t need any heroics to pull out a win as Texas jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first thanks to an RBI double from Brandon Nimmo and a run-scoring ground out off the bat of Burger. In the fifth, Joc Pederson added another run when he blasted his 15th home run of the season to make it 3-0.
However, things turned as the Rangers were leading 3-1 in the seventh when Chris Martin allowed a game-tying two run home run to Astros catcher Yainer Diaz.
Texas was without its two highest-leverage relievers in Jacob Latz and Peyton Gray, who were both down on Friday due to high workloads on Thursday.
Still, even after being dealt a big blow, the Rangers were able to punch back for a second straight night.
“The dugout did not waver” Schumaker said. “They were still upbeat like ‘let’s get it back’ type of talk in there which a coaching staff hopes for when they come off the field is the energy is like ‘we got this game, we got the right guys up no matter what part of the order it is. It’s a credit to a lot of the bench players…”
The Rangers remained in the game not only thanks to their confident mentality but also the performance of starting pitcher Cal Quantrill.
Quantrill fired his first quality start of the season, going six innings and allowing just one run on a night in which the Rangers were just hoping for him to give them five.
“We’ve been building for it the last two-and-a-half weeks or so,” Quantrill said when talking about being able to go deep in the game.
“I knew I was still going to have a pitch count today but it was still enough to do six so that was the goal,” Quantrill said.
Since being inserted into the rotation, Quantrill has posted a 2.12 ERA but despite Friday night being a continuation of his personal success, he knows what a win like this can do for the team.
“Credit to the guys, we stayed in it. It can be difficult to stay in it after a blow like that late in a game, but we did and I think it’s something we build on a hopefully continue to win some of these middle-middle games,” Quantrill finished.
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