How did Texas Rangers Corey Seager and Wyatt Langford play in their return?
It had been almost a month since Corey Seager’s last game and more than a month since Wyatt Langford’s but the two Texas Rangers stars made their return from the injury list together against the Cleveland Guardians in the team’s 3-2 win on Friday at Globe Life Field.
Seager had missed the past 19 games with lower back inflammation, while Langford missed 39 games with a right forearm strain and both had struggled before hitting the injury list with the 2023 World Series MVP batting .179 with seven home runs and 20 RBIs while the Florida project hit .238 with a home run and four RBIs.
How did the pair perform on Friday?
Langford and Seager got nice rounds of applause upon their returns to the plate but neither recorded a hit in their first at bat with a fly out and a pop out respectively.
The pair weren’t the only Rangers to struggle early with the team going hitless until the fourth inning of the game.
Manager Skip Schumaker talked about getting his two sluggers back and when he knew they’d have a big night.
“It’s definitely good to have them back. We were talking on the bench that [quality control coach Rod Barajas] and I, that their timing looked right the first at-bat, both of them, and that was the most exciting part, even though neither one of them got hits or anything, but they just looked right,” said Schumaker, “It was a really good sign, the first pitch on with both of them, even with the foul ball the first pitch of the game with Langford. We both looked at each other like, okay, that looks right and then Seager was the same way.”
Langford was the first of the pair to get a hit on Friday with a double off the left field wall in the sixth inning, which put the tying run on second base with one out.
Seager got his first hit right after Langford, a two-run homer, to give Texas their first lead of the night.
After the game, Seager talked about getting the game-winning hit in his first game back.
“It was just nice to get out there with the guys again, you never want to be on the DL, you always want to be out there competing,” said Seager, “It’s [an] easier way to come back for me and Wyatt when the team’s going good, you don’t feel like you’re doing anything, you know? You can just kind of hop on the train and keep going.”
Langford finished the night 1 for 4 with a run scored, while Seager went 1 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs, including the game winning run in the Rangers victory.
Game notes
The Rangers came into Friday’s game tied, with the Athletics, for the last playoff spot in a crowded American League Wild Card field with four teams within three games of the final spot.
Kumar Rocker came into Friday’s game on a heater, the Vanderbilt project had given up no runs and pitched at least five innings in three of his last four starts, the lone exception coming in a 9-0 loss to the Houston Astros, where the Rangers batters were no-hit.
Rocker got off to a rough start allowing a solo homer to leadoff batter Travis Bazzana, but was able to rebound, giving up two runs off six hits in five innings of work.
Jacob Latz came out in the eighth inning and after a quick eight pitch inning stayed on in the ninth inning looking for the two out save.
Latz had two outs in the ninth inning with the game tying run on second base and the game winning run on first with Brayan Rocchio at the plate with a full count and struck him out swinging to earn the save.
The Rangers are back in action against the Guardians at 6:35 p.m. on Saturday at Globe Life Field, trying to secure the series win.
This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 10:04 PM.
