After losing to Houston on Friday, the Rangers had to win yesterday. They had to. A loss would have been a dagger. It would have been two-thirds of the way to being swept. A sweep would have unofficially but realistically ended their playoff chances.

But that didn’t happen.

What did happen, instead, was perhaps one of the best games the Rangers played all year. A good, old-fashioned pitchers’ duel.

Marcus Semien led off with a home run. In the bottom of the first, with one out, Houston got four straight singles to tie it.  It looked like the usual Astros magic was once again materializing. Nathan Eovaldi was on the brink. 

Then he struck out Jeremy Peña and got Jake Meyer to line out. Six innings later, Eovaldi was still in the game. The score was still 1-1, and the Rangers season was still hanging by a thread. 

The 1-1 tie continued through the eighth and ninth. Then into extra innings.

With Josh Smith starting the tenth at second, he moved to third with two outs. Nathanial Lowe took the count to 3-2. On the sixth pitch, he punched a line drive to left, Smith scored, the Rangers went up 2-1, Kirby Yates held the lead, and the Rangers funeral parade was put on ice.

A win today and Texas has hope. All because Nathan Eovaldi bent but never broke. And the puny Rangers offense figure out a way to score a second run.

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