The Texas Rangers recorded just three hits against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday, Aug. 7, but somehow, one of those was powerful enough to lead them to a 2-1 victory.

Leadoff hitter Joc Pederson was first-pitch swinging in the sixth inning, and it paid off big time.

The 34-year-old crushed a 414-foot homer to right field off a 91 mph cutter. Shane Baz pitched an eight-inning gem, but the Rangers pitching staff somehow topped him as they held the Orioles to just one run on seven hits.

It's well documented how poor Pederson was a year ago, but manager Skip Schumaker touted the success of his "comeback season" after the game.

There's no doubt the Rangers would've lost this game if it wasn't for Pederson, so it's crazy to look at his turnaround and how it's once again put Texas in a position to be competitive and fight for a division title down the stretch.

After the win, the Rangers got back to .500 (58-58) and are now just one and a half games back in the American League West.

"Oh gosh, man, Joc has been incredible,” he said, according to MLB.com. “We were scuffling offensively. We got nothing going… His comeback season has been gigantic for us, and he showed up again today. We got that game because of Joc.”

To say the Rangers had nothing going offensively would be an understatement. They had a single and sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the second, but went down in order in the first, third, fourth, and fifth innings leading up to Pederson's homer.

In what would be his 21st blast of the year, Pederson now has a two-home-run cushion over Jake Burger. As it stands, the lefty is the only player on this team with more than 20 home runs this season.

"They all matter," were the three words that echoed through the Rangers locker room after this victory.

Pederson continued, "You gotta bring it every day, no matter who you're playing... We didn't play our best game offensively, but we were still able to squeak out a win. Our pitching staff did a great job holding a good team to one run. That's what good teams do... you pick each other up and try to find ways to stack wins.”

Stacking wins hasn't exactly been easy for the Rangers coming out of the All-Star break. This team finally has its first three-game winning streak of the second half. It's taken 20 games to get there, but this is a huge confidence booster to wipe away their abysmal six-game losing streak.

For Pederson, this home run was a big one as he's hit just .211 in the month of August. While it's a small sample size so far, this was not only his first home run of the month, but his first two RBIs as well.