Rangers Beat Royals to Finally Reach .500 Record on Seventh Try in Six Weeks

Apparently, all it took for the Texas Rangers to get back to .500 was to try it for the seventh time.

After a two-hour and 20-minute rain delay, the Rangers (34-34) beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-2 on Thursday. In doing so the Rangers reached .500 for the first time since May 1.

The issue? The Rangers failed six separate times to get to .500 in between.

The Rangers’ .500 Misses

Texas Rangers left fielder Wyatt Langford slides to catch a baseball with his glove. — Texas Rangers left fielder Wyatt Langford. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

The Rangers defeated the Detroit Tigers, 5-4, on May 1 to get to 16-16. The next day, they fell to the Tigers, 5-1, which triggered a three-game losing streak. One of those losses was on May 3 against the Tigers, which was Texas’ first chance to get back to .500.

The second try was on May 15 in Houston. Sitting at 21-22 after a walk-off win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Rangers lost, 2-0.

Texas was back on the precipice on May 22. After beating Colorado, 5-4, the Rangers were sitting at 24-25 and had a day off before facing the Los Angeles Angels. But Texas lost that game, 9-6. From there, Texas backslid and fell six games under .500 by May 28 when it lost to Houston, 5-1.

The Rangers got hot after that. They won five straight games to climb to 30-31 and take their fourth shot at .500 on June 3. They fell to the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-2.

Texas took its fifth shot at .500 on June 6 when they were 31-32 and hosting the Cleveland Guardians at home. But a 6-0 loss booted the Rangers back to two games under .500.

The Rangers took their sixth shot at .500 in Kansas City on Tuesday. After beating the Guardians in the finale on Sunday to improve to 32-33, Texas lost to the Royals, 5-3, to drop to 32-34. Texas followed that loss with a 6-4 win on Wednesday, pushing it back to 33-34 and to within one game of .500 for sixth time since May 1.

The victory wasn't pretty. Starting pitcher Kumar Rocker was unable to get out of the fifth inning even though he only gave up five hits and two runs. His pitch count got too high. Corey Seager hit a home run and scored another run but collided with Royals catcher Carter Jensen at the plate and managed to avoid injury. The Rangers also had three baserunners called out at third.

But, in a mediocre AL West, getting back to .500 allowed Texas to keep pace with the Seattle Mariners and head to Boston having won each of their last four series, with a record of 9-3 in its last 12 games.

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