74-74 - Solak haunts Tampa Bay once more as Rangers take series with 6-4 win

The September schedule for the Rangers was supposed to either be a chance to play postseason spoiler or be an agonizing onslaught of teams looking to brutalize the Rangers ahead of their October aspirations.

Well, so far the Rangers are 7-4 in September and have just taken a series from the Tampa Bay Rays with a 6-4 victory to perform as a pothole on their road to the playoffs. With the win, the Rangers also climbed back to .500 for the first time in nearly a month.

Player of the Game: The Rays traded Nick Solak to the Rangers for a relief pitcher and if Tampa Bay doesn’t make the playoffs this season, they might look back on that trade as an immediate regret — before even considering it a long term regret — as tonight Solak went 2-for-3 with a walk and a big two-run home run to give the Rangers the runs by their margin of victory.

Of course, as fate would have it, the dong came against the guy the Rangers sent to the Rays, reliever Peter Fairbanks. Solak finished the series going 6-for-11 with a double, two home runs, four runs scored, four RBI, and two walks draw.

Up Next: The Rangers will welcome AL West rivals Oakland to Arlington for their last look at The Ballpark. LHP Brock Burke will once again try to collect his first big league win for Texas against RHP Chris Bassitt for the Athletics. First pitch Friday’s series opener is scheduled for 7:05 pm CT.