Max Scherzer Reminds Texas Rangers: 'We're a Great Team'

Max Scherzer and the Texas Rangers all knew what was at stake.

No, the season wasn’t riding on Saturday, but something needed to be done. And done quick.

“We all know it. We’re feeling it,” Scherzer said after the 6-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins. “We have to come out here and win. Everything you do has to be focused on winning. Execute. Do your job.

“My job is to try to pitch deep into a ballgame, provide our team a chance to win. I can’t win the ballgame by myself. I just got to stay within myself and do my job, and that’s what I was focused on.”

The Rangers snapped an eight-game losing streak and remained tied for first with the Seattle Mariners in the American League West at 73-56. The Houston Astros (73-58) are a game back.

August has been anything but ordinary for the Rangers. After a flurry of trades that added the likes of Scherzer, Jordan Montgomery and Chris Stratton, Texas reeled off eight straight wins to start the month. About a week later, Texas began its eight-game skid.

The Rangers franchise had never experienced winning and losing streaks of at least eight in the same month before.

It’s enough to make one dizzy.

“I came over here and saw the highs of the high and then I saw the lows of the low,” Scherzer said. “You’re never as good as you think you are and you’re never as bad as you think you are. You’re always somewhere in the middle. Hopefully we ended this losing streak and now we go out there and play good baseball from here on out.”

Scherzer did his job Saturday, allowing two runs on four hits and one walk, while striking out 10. The three-time Cy Young Award winner is 3-1 with a 2.64 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 30 2/3 innings since coming over from the New York Mets.

“He really was outstanding,” Bochy said, according to MLB.com. “I tell you, he competes as well as any pitcher I’ve seen. So locked in and focused on what he wants to do. We needed it today, obviously. We had our guy out there. He came through for us.”

Scherzer didn’t factor into the decision Saturday, turning the game over the bullpen with the score tied 2-2. Brock Burke pitched a scoreless eighth in relief, picked up the win and, after the Rangers scored four unorthodox runs in the ninth, Aroldis Chapman slammed the door in a non-save situation.

If it felt lately as if Rangers might never win again and the season was crashing down, Scherzer put the victory and the state of the club in perspective.

“I wouldn’t put it as a relief,” he said. “Look, we’re a great team.”

The Rangers and Twins finish their four-game series Sunday at Target Field. Montgomery (8-10, 3.12) goes for Texas opposite Bailey Ober (6-6, 3.41). First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m.

You can follow Art Garcia on Twitter @ArtGarcia92.

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