Houston Astros at Texas Rangers

ARLINGTON – Three weeks ago, Rangers manager Skip Schumaker reiterated his belief that Wyatt Langford is an MVP-caliber player. Time will tell if he lives up to those kinds of standards, but there is no disputing the impact he had in the Texas lineup Friday. A day after a walk-off base hit, Langford served as the instigator of the Rangers’ decisive eighth inning. The American League West frontrunning Rangers broke a tie by erupting for four runs in the inning, using Langford’s leadoff home run as a catalyst and Jake Burger’s three-run blast as the final nail in the coffin to defeat the archrival Astros, 7-3, in a series opener on Friday. Langford, who was activated off the injured list the day before, took a 1-0 pitch from Bryan King deep to left to give Texas a lead. Burger followed a walk to Josh Jung and a base hit by Brandon Nimmo with his home run to left-center field. “I just don't want it to get lost how hard this is to come off the IL and then produce in late, high-leverage innings and provide the walk-off, and then obviously the big home run. It's not as easy as he's making that look,” Schumaker said. “We don't win those two games without him.” The victory marked the Rangers’ 10th in their past 14 games. Right-hander Cole Winn (5-2), who pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, earned the victory. Lefty Tyler Alexander pitched around a leadoff hit in the ninth to close things out. The home run was Langford’s ninth of the season. He is hitting .333 over his past 28 games and has reached base in 31 of his past 33 games, including 12 straight. Burger’s homer was his 16th of the season. Texas didn’t let Cal Quantrill’s quality start go to waste. The right-hander, inserted into the starting rotation in place of Jack Leiter (who is on the injured list after undergoing right ankle arthroscopic surgery), gave up one run over a season-high six innings.