There’s something about the Rangers lately that harkens to ’16: winning

If the Texas Rangers have to get lucky and miraculous to turn around their 2017 season, so be it.

A repeat of last season would be fine with them.

For the past week, at least, that’s the sort of vibe at Globe Life Park. And, boy, did they need it.

The Rangers rallied for three runs in the seventh inning Sunday to beat the Oakland Athletics 6-4 and complete a three-game sweep. They have won a season-high six consecutive games and pulled within a game of .500 at 19-20.

The last time the Rangers were this close to .500 was April 23 after a four-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals. That sweep failed to turn into something bigger, as they went 4-10 over the next two weeks and were looking up at the first-place Houston Astros from the cellar of the American League West.

“We never put our heads down during the bad days,” said Nomar Mazara, who extended his hit streak to five games Sunday by going 2 for 4 with a go-ahead single in the seventh. “We always kept working hard and we’re seeing some results right now.”

They’re off Monday after 17 consecutive games before opening a three-game set against the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday at Globe Life Park.

The Rangers have rallied in each of their past five games, the first five on the current eight-game homestand. They had five comeback wins in their first 34 games.

“I believe it’s the way we’re [approaching] our first two at-bats,” said Elvis Andrus, who was 3 for 4 with an RBI double and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh. “We’re seeing a lot of pitches, swinging at the balls we want. We’re making the guys throw a lot of pitches. By the third time you face him it usually gets a lot easier, even if you face a new guy from the bullpen.

“What we’re doing early in the game is helping us to get that momentum.”

The offense isn’t the only aspect of the team gaining momentum. The bullpen, which was central to the club’s early-season struggles, has regrouped with Matt Bush as the closer. He earned his fourth save Sunday, his second in consecutive games. The win streak not only helps the Rangers in the standings, but also in the clubhouse.

“It’s huge. It helps bring guys together. It helps loosen everyone up,” Bush said. “We’re having fun. It’s all about winning. This is an amazing team. We have so much talent top to bottom, position players, bullpen. To see it coming together right now is a whole lot of fun. We’re ready to come back and win another one, just keep it rolling.”

Before Sunday’s win, Jeff Banister called the win streak “significantly important” to getting the team back where it needs to be.

“Anytime you put wins together, there’s a lot of momentum,” he said. “It felt like it would come with this ball club as we started to get our offense in shape, as the bullpen was able to settle down, pitch much better and eliminate the walks, pitch to their strengths. We knew that this offense would get going at some point.”

At the time, when the losses were mounting, Banister and his players said all the right things, some even going out of their way to point out there was no panic in the clubhouse. Perhaps all of those one-run wins from ’16 filled them with confidence that a turnaround was coming.

“We knew as a team we weren’t playing the way we know how we can play,” Andrus said. “There were so many different things we didn’t do [well], so right now we’ve all simplified everything, not trying to do too much, and we’re believing in each other.

“As an offense, there’s something right now late in the games ... we did it last year the whole year and it’s something that feels really good to be able to go back and do it again.”

Andrus couldn’t put his finger on the proper word, but here’s a substitute: winning.

This story was originally published May 14, 2017 at 8:02 PM with the headline "There’s something about the Rangers lately that harkens to ’16: winning."