'Stupid Videos' Help Texas Rangers Relax, Beat Blue Jays

The Texas Rangers needed to relax. And breathe. And laugh.

That was the point of Saturday’s pregame hitters’ meeting, which included, according to Josh Jung, some “stupid videos” to help the cause.

The Rangers responded with a 4-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at Globe Life Field that featured home runs from Jung, Corey Seager and Jonah Heim.

Texas (43-27) came into the middle game of the series having dropped seven of nine and “pressing” lately with runners in the scoring position.

“We’ve been losing, so everyone’s like putting a little but more pressure on themselves to get those runs in,” Jung said. “It’s not necessarily that we’re going out there and our butts are clenching a little bit. … We had some stuff not go our way, so we are trying to force the issue instead of just having a good at-bat.”

Now the American League West leaders are in position to win the series in Sunday’s rubber match. Jon Gray (6-2, 2.32) goes for Texas opposite Chris Bassitt (7-5, 4.02). First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.

Jung said the Rangers have learned a lot about themselves during their last week-plus.

“Everything, truly,” he said. “The camaraderie in the clubhouse hasn’t faltered. That’s where you can kind of see some separation in the clubhouse when things aren’t going our way. It’s like we’ve come together and gotten closer. To go out there and get this win now, chance to win this series [Sunday] is a big deal.”

Jung noted that some of the issues with were just bad luck. In the previous series against the Los Angeles Angels, the Rangers were 9-for-49 with RISP. Texas lost three of those four games.

“We had like 16 balls hit over 100 (mph) with runners in scoring position and were just caught or right at somebody,” he said. “It was really unfortunate. Just a lot of things went right for the other teams and not for us and that’s going to happen because there for a while everything was going our way. It all balances out.”

Texas actually went hitless in five at-bats with RISP against Toronto on Saturday, but the hits that cleared the fence made the difference.

“I thought we had some really good at-bats,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We were patient; we didn’t expand the zone. We got a lot of pitches out of their staff, and guys did a great job. To go through a little rut there where we’re not getting the big hit with runners on well, well, you’re hoping you get the long ball. That’s what happened.”

The Rangers have put some historic offensive numbers at times this season, so the recent downtown was somewhat expected. Bochy has said as much. Maybe the club just needed to relax and breathe and laugh.

And watch stupid videos.

“We’ve been definitely one of the best teams to ever do it the first couple months, so when we’re kinda normal, it seems we’re struggling,” Jung said, “but we’ll get back on track.

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