For the first time since May 1, the Texas Rangers are finally back to being a .500 team after a 4-2, series-clinching win over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday, and a significant part of their success can be owed to Jacob Latz.

With a 4-2 lead, Latz took over in the bottom of the eighth inning and faced six Royals hitters, and he was able to retire each of them. Latz was the final reliever to take the mound for the Rangers, and after completing a three-out save the night before, he carried them to the finish line effectively again.

After the game, Latz spoke with Laura Stickells of Rangers Sports Network to talk about the win and what his favorite part of notching saves is.

"Just finishing the game with a win and meeting everyone on the mound there to congratulate," Latz said. "Just a serious win, and any win really, but it's cool just being with the group of guys there at the end and, like I said, finishing the game."

Latz earned the winning decision to improve to 2-1 on the season after posting two no-hit, shutout innings along with three strikeouts. He only had to throw 15 pitches to take down the six batters he faced, and 14 of those pitches landed for strikes, according to MLB.com.

"Yeah, I mean, really just trying to use all four pitches as best as I can," Latz said about his approach. "I feel good with the mix, and so I feel like I'm never backed into a corner. That's something that Evo [Nathan Eovaldi] preaches to us as pitchers. So, I feel like I always have a place to get them out, and then just confidence is going right now."

According to his Baseball Savant profile, Latz mainly relied on his four-seam fastball on Thursday, which he threw 10 times. However, the other five pitches were distributed to his curveball and slider (two each) and his changeup (once).

Now that the Rangers are finally out of the losing column, Latz also talked about what it took to reach that point.

"Yeah, I mean, we've been fighting the last couple of years to get over the hump," Latz said. "And it's just moments like this where we refuse to quit. And we'll have some lulls, but the guys get back up, and we just continue to move forward.

"And I think that that's something that we should hang our hat on and keep going," he added. "And once we get a little momentum, I feel like we're really destined to break out and reach our potential. That's all we want."

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