The Rangers Are STILL Chasing .500 in June, and This Week's Battle for Even Is WILD

Holy smokes, baseball fans, did you catch the Rangers and Royals throw down last night? Talk about a grind! Our AL buddies, the Texas Rangers, pulled off a gritty 6-4 win in 10 innings on Wednesday, and get this: it means they’re sitting at 33-34. That puts them in position to finally hit the .500 mark on Thursday afternoon. Can you believe they’ve been at .500 ten different times this season, but haven't actually been there since May 1? It’s been a real struggle for consistency, even if they expected more wins.

Bench Heroes and Bullpen Fights for Texas

Wednesday’s game was a wild one, right? MacKenzie Gore came in, gave up just two runs over five innings, and straight up said, “These wins are big; we need to win games like this. I think if we keep winning series, we’ll all be happy.” You gotta love that fire! The Rangers needed it, especially after Joc Pederson had to leave with a reported hip issue. Who stepped up? Jake Burger, coming off the bench to hit a tying homer in the seventh and a tying sacrifice fly in the eighth! Unbelievable. Then, ex-Royal Elias Diaz, who else, smashed a tie-breaking double in the 10th. And another former Kansas City guy, Nicky Lopez, chipped in with two hits and an RBI. This team has put up 31 runs in their 4-1 run against Kansas City this season, with Lopez absolutely tearing it up at 7-for-14 with a homer and four RBIs. Burger, too, is on fire lately, hitting 6-for-9 in the last three games and a crazy 9-for-16 against the Royals for the year.

Pitching Matchups and Batting Battles Ahead

So, who’s on the mound for Thursday? For the Royals, it’s Michael Wacha, who started 2026 with a solid 2.69 ERA through his first 11 starts. But then, things got rocky. He faced the Rangers on May 31, giving up six runs, eight hits, and four walks over five innings. He followed that up by allowing five runs and eight hits in Kansas City’s 5-3 loss to Minnesota. The Royals have actually lost Wacha’s last five starts, and he’s sitting at 2-4 with a 4.79 ERA in his career against Texas. He said he “Just tried to keep attacking with that game plan we had going. Just stopped executing for whatever reason.” We’ve all been there, dude. For the Rangers, Kumar Rocker (2-5, 3.54 ERA) has been looking good in his last two starts, including six scoreless innings against the Royals back on May 30! He followed that with two runs and six hits over five innings in a win over Cleveland. On the hitting side, watch out for the Royals’ Jac Caglianone. This dude is scorching hot, with 14-for-26 and eight RBIs in his last eight games. He had four hits on Wednesday after going 3-for-3 with two homers and a walk on Tuesday! Even the Royals manager, Matt Quatraro, had to admit, “His at-bats overall have been really quality.” Meanwhile, Corey Seager for Texas went 0-for-5 on Wednesday, dropping his season average to .179, but get this: he’s hitting .391 against Wacha! What a wild swing!

The Rangers need to close out this series strong Thursday afternoon against the Royals. Getting to .500 would be a massive mental boost, after knocking on that door all month. Can they do it? You know we’ll be watching!

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This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.