This is how teams earn winning records.

This is how teams earn reputations.

Three games in a row, the Rangers have staged late come-from-behind rallies to beat two good teams. The White Sox, even though they are mired in third place in their division, are no slouches. And the Astros are, well, the Astros. Kings of the American League.

It’s been a similar pattern too. Sloppy starting pitching puts them in a hole. But not so big of a hole they can’t dig out.

A lights-out bullpen.

Home-run robbing, heart crushing defense.

An offense that doesn’t quit early and go home.

Ezequiel Duran.

That seems to be the recipe for success.

Down 3-0 early, the Rangers chipped back with a sac fly in the third and an RBI single in the seventh. 

By at that time, they were down just 3-2. And they showed their resilience once again in the eighth.

Jonah Heim led off with a single. Charlie Culberson pinch ran for him and stole second. Then, Nathanial Lowe did something important. He grounded out. But it moved Culberson to third. Who came in to score on Duran’s infield hit.

Tied 3-3. And Duran has yet another clutch at-bat for the Rangers. The kid has made the most of his thirty-seven major league plate appearances. Twelve hits, five runs batted in, an elite OPS of .907.

Oh, and a steal of second that was huge. Because he came around to score the go-ahead run on Brad Miller’s single. A walk and a Semien single loaded the bases for Seager’s RBI ground out. 

Suddenly, the Rangers took the swagger out of the cocky Astros with a three-run eighth inning. 

The guy who has been impersonating Matt Moore all year came in and shut down the Astros in the ninth.

Three-game winning streak. Three game never-say-die streak. Three game late-inning heroics streak.

This is how teams earn nicknames.

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