​Los Rangers de Texas festejan el hit del dominicano Ezequiel Durán, que puso fin al duelo ante los Angelinos de Los Ángeles en la décima entrada, el viernes 21 de agosto de 2026 (AP Foto/Tony Gutiérrez) (Tony Gutierrez/AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
ARLINGTON — Skip Schumaker was deep into a treatise Friday night on how effective the Rangers’ pitching has been on this homestand, but also acknowledging the nearly complete lack of offense.  It was deep stuff and we’d lay it all out here if he hadn’t interrupted it with something even deeper.  “You know, I love this game,” he said. “This game just does not make sense sometimes.” Profound. Really. How else to wrap up a night that ultimately ended with the Rangers back in possession of a playoff berth after a 2-1 10-inning walkoff win over the pesky Los Angeles Angels? Related:With Rangers in playoff race, don’t overlook club’s opportunity to ‘do something special’Ultimately, the Rangers won on Ezequiel Duran’s two-out liner that Denzer Guzman knocked down at third. But Guzman threw wildly to second, perhaps because he had no play with Duran busting it down the line and definitely because Brandon Nimmo, the runner at first, had taken such a good secondary lead and gotten such a good jump that he impacted the play by bearing down on the base. When the throw went into center, Wyatt Langford, who had tied the game on a two-out, two-strike flare off a 102 mph fastball from Ben Joyce, was able to score from second. Don’t count ’em out! 😤😤😤😤Rangers were down to their final strike but instead come back to steal one from the Angels in extra innings.(Via @MLB | #AllForTX)pic.twitter.com/sAM561vAa4— SportsDay Rangers (@dmn_rangers) August 22, 2026All of that chaos, combined with Minnesota’s loss to San Diego, pushed the Rangers back to the third wild card spot with 33 games to play.  “The reason why that play happened, in my opinion, was because Nimmo took baserunning seriously,” Schumaker said. “He got a fantastic secondary lead, was running as hard as he could and he was on top of the second baseman. I don’t know for a fact, but it might have disrupted the throw a little. Those are the little things that we’ve talked about the last couple of days that can make a difference. They made a big difference.”  It was the second time in four games this week that Schumaker singled out baserunning as a direct cause for a win. The Rangers had run the bases aggressively in winning against Washington on Monday. And, the manager had said, they needed to do more of it, when possible. It’s been stressed and re-emphasized often of late. “I know I’m a good runner, so they know that,” Nimmo said in breaking down the play. “So that helps. That’s already in the back of the head. And then obviously Zeke, being the runner that he is, that’s why he didn’t go to first base. So, it had an impact. I don’t know if my actions directly did, but I think the fact that I run well