Until hitting his mammoth upper deck home run yesterday, Jurickson Profar had the fourth-longest homerless drought in baseball, having gone 221 at-bats without homering.

It all boils down to walks.

Too many times this season, Rangers pitching has generously given up far too many walks.

And walks always come back to haunt you.

But the Rangers have now won three games in a row to set a major league record for longest winning streak by an Arlington-base team in 2018. And it’s happened because they stopped giving walks and started taking walks.

It pays to be stingy.

Rangers pitching has been among the leaders in walks allowed all season. Which explains the starters’ inability to go deep into games, and which explains the team’s record.

But the Rangers allowed just one walk in yesterday’s 7-4 win over the Blue Jays, while the Rangers offense worked five walks, three of which led to runs.

In Friday night’s win, the Rangers gave up just one walk as well. And in Wednesday’s win over Oakland, the Rangers walked just three.

That’s in stark contrast to the game before that where they gave up seven walks. A loss, of course.

Cut down on walks, take more walks. It’s pretty basic baseball. And the Texas Rangers have been executing it well the last three games. Especially Joey Gallo, who has walked nine times in his last nine games.

Walks may not be the most exciting play in baseball. But it usually leads to scoring runs.

Which is usually exciting.

Especially when it’s the Rangers doing the scoring.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

Martin Perez (2-2, 9.82) vs. J.A. Happ (3-1, 3.72)
Game time: 12:07

How the Rangers hit against Happ.
How the Blue Jays hit against Perez.