Blue Jays fan's classy display makes Rangers' tight win even sweeter

The Texas Rangers took on the Toronto Blue Jays yesterday in what should have been an intense game. While neither club has been able to conquer the .500 mark, they are both in the thick of the wild card race, while the Rangers also benefit from playing in the incredibly weak and wide-open AL West.

Games like these matter a lot. Not only would a win help Texas in the standings, but it would knock a direct competitor in the wild-card chase down a peg. Being on the road and north of the border, one would think that the Rangers would be playing in a hostile atmosphere.

This matchup in particular was especially wild. The Jays had one of their stalwarts on the mound in Kevin Gausman, who began the game locked in an 11-pitch battle with Joc Pederson that resulted in the lefty slugger miraculously going yard.

However, it was the third inning where things at chance to get extra spicy. Still leading 1-0, Wyatt Langford, who looks like a completely different player since coming off the IL, stepped to the plate with runners on first and second and launched his fifth homer in his last eight games. The ball landed in the left field bleachers, where a Jays fan emerged from the scrum with it. He looked to his right and then to his left and spotted a young Rangers fan and decided to make his day and give him the ball.

It was a heartwarming moment that didn't seem possible as it looked as if the Rangers were about to break the game open. The young man made a point to shake the unexpected benefactors hand in thanks, providing us all with a nice moment that highlights how things should be rather than the ugliness we sometimes see in the stands during tense matchups.

A wild Rangers game yields a crazy outcome in the standings

Two batters later, Jake Burger would go yard as well to extend the lead to a commanding 6-0. Of course, this is the Rangers we're talking about, and nothing can ever be easy.

MacKenzie Gore was locked in for most of the night, tossing seven strong innings and allowing just four hits and a walk. However, most of that traffic was clustered in the bottom of the fifth when Gore allowed two singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs.

With that, struggling Jays utility man Davis Schneider hit a sac fly to score a run, and the following batter, Myles Straw, doubled to drive two more in. Gore settled down after that and escaped, giving up just three runs.

Things seemed to be in cruise control from there on out as Gore handed the ball to Jakob Junis for a 1-2-3 eighth inning. Jacob Latz took the ball. hoping to close out the game in the ninth, but in doing so, the dominant and versatile relief ace proved he is actually human, giving up a two-run homer to Kazuma Okamoto.

Fortunately, Latz settled down and restored order to secure a 6-5 victory. With that, the Rangers pulled even with the Jays and created a four-way tie for the final AL wild card spot, sharing the position with division rivals the Houston Astros and the Athletics.

The Minnesota Twins and Baltimore Orioles also sit just 1.5 games back of that wild card spot, further highlighting the insanity of the American League. It's still unclear what the Rangers will do at the trade deadline, but if things hold like this, and mind you, they're also only 1.5 games back of the Mariners for the division lead, we can only hope that Jim Bowden is right and Chris Young attacks the trade deadline with uncommon aggression.

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