Rangers reaction: Making up for that sweep in Oakland

The Rangers getting swept by the Athletics in Oakland over the weekend just about sapped any remaining excitement out of the club’s postseason hopes.

But responding by taking the first two games against the Astros at Tropicana Field has gone a long way in re-energizing their chances.

The Rangers won again, 8-1, in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Wednesday night. If Texas can pull off the sweep on Thursday and move above .500 for the second time since June 27 Rangers fans may be positively ecstatic. OK, maybe that’s a tad optimistic. But look at it this way, the Rangers return home for a three-game series this weekend against the Angels and play 17 of their final 29 games at Globe Life Park.

Pulling off a postseason berth doesn’t require the Rangers to play like the ’27 Yankees. But they do have to continue to win more than they lose in September, obviously. Any kind of hot streak could put the Rangers in the driver’s seat. Or at least, one of two driver’s seats.

They’ll start Thursday three games back of the second wild card spot, 1  1/2 games behind the Orioles and Angels, who are a game back of the Twins. The Yankees are in the top wild card spot, one game ahead of the pack. Even they’re within reach, if not by the Rangers, then somebody else.

Bottom line, every time we want to bury the 2017 Rangers they show some life. Stay tuned!

Before we get to the Rangers reaction, take a moment to watch this emotional video of Rangers’ pitching coach Doug Brocail talking about his family dealing with the natural disaster in Houston. Puts baseball in perspective.

1. Cashing in — Andrew Cashner held the Astros to one run on three hits, including just one after the second inning, and pitched a season-high eight innings to improve to 8-9. He walked none and struck out six and lowered his team-leading ERA to 3.30. It’s the seventh start Cashner has gone at least seven innings and third since July 28.

2. Lone Star Series — The Astros stuck it to the Rangers early this season, taking five of the first six games. The Rangers were floundering and the Astros had the best record in baseball. But Texas has won six of the past eight games against Houston and could even the series at 8-8 with a sweep on Thursday.

3. St. Pete crowd — A little over 10,000 fans have attended the first two games at Tropicana Field, including 6,123 Wednesday night. That’s pretty decent considering the series was announced on short notice and the Tampa Bay Rays average a league-low 15,382 fans a game. They should match that for the three-game series, which concludes with the finale at noon Thursday.

4. Series fit for a King — Elvis Andrus was 3 for 5 with two runs scored Wednesday night and is now 7 for 10 with three doubles, a triple, five runs, and two RBIs in the first two games of the series. The surge has raised Andrus’ batting average to .306, the highest it has been since April.

This story was originally published August 30, 2017 at 10:45 PM with the headline "Rangers reaction: Making up for that sweep in Oakland."