Texas Rangers News: Extra inning thrillers, Seager is back, Vandy boys, more

Week after week, more of the same for the Texas Rangers.

Despite a series victory in Balimore, the Rangers were unable to convert very winnable games against division rival Seattle and Texas finds themselves still searching for answers.

Extra innings x3 in Arlington

The Rangers and Mariners took all three of their weekend games at Globe Life Field into extra innings this weekend, leading to a 2-1 series victory for Seattle.

The weekend started with a 7-6 loss on Friday, taking the game to 12 innings after finding themselves down 5-1 at one point in the game. It was followed by a 10 inning victory thanks to a Marcus Semien walk-off single through a drawn in infield.

However, Sunday was the biggest disappointment. After tying the game in the 10th and shutting down Seattle in the 11th, Texas had the winning run at third with one out and failed to win the game. They later fell in another 12-inning contest by the score of 6-4 on Sunday.

Seager has regained his old self

Sure, the tough week hurts in a much-needed set of series wins for Texas but there were positives when you look at the Rangers' offense. First, Marcus Semien keeps his hot June going but the real story is Corey Segaer.

When Seager returned from his second IL stint on May 28, he struggled. Talking an 0-for-22 hitless streak and over one month without a home run. He ended both those streaks and since then is back to his All-Star self. In his seven games, he's hitting .280 with 3 homers, 8 RBIs, 7 walks, .640 slug and a stole base.

He kept Texas in the game on Sunday with a game-tying two-run homer in the 10th inning and contributed a sac fly in the 12th but it wasn't enough to get the win.

Vandy boys sparkled on the hill

Rangers' fans have been waiting a few years to get a chance to see Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter pitch shutdown, meaningful innings in a Rangers' uniform and it seems now is the time.

Leiter, 25, got the start for Sunday's series finale against Seattle and pitched a tremendous six innings of one run ball, striking out a career-high seven batters but did not factor in the scoring decision. Rocker on the other hand started on Saturday and put in six innings of one run ball of his own.

Ever since Rocker was drafted third overall by the Rangers in 2022, fans have been anxiously counting down the days until we saw a back-to-back punch like this from the former Vanderbilt teammates. However, when one pitcher was firing on all cylinders the other looked lost on the mound. Not this weekend though.

13 games left until All-Star Break

The Rangers will welcome the Orioles to Globe Life Field for a three-game set beginning Monday and the middle of that series will cross into the month of July. While it was important to get two series wins this last week, Texas is still 41-43 and have two division series upcoming in this 13-game stretch.

After Baltimore, Texas begins a 10-game road trip that backs up the Midsummer Classic. It will be San Diego (3 games), Angels (4 games) and Houston (3 games). The Padres have been good this season, while Texas has taken all three games against the Angels so far this season but are below them in the standings.

The real test will be Houston, who as of Monday, lead the American League West over Seattle by 6.5 games, Los Angeles by 8 games and Texas by 9 games. If they lose all of these series, it's best go ahead and call it a season and move on to selling at the dead