Burger Homers Twice as Rangers Beat Rays 8-6

Jake Burger went deep twice and the Texas Rangers climbed out of two four-run holes to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 8-6 on Sunday in Arlington, per the Associated Press. The win split the four-game series and kept Texas breathing in both the AL West and wild-card races.

The Rays still own the American League's best record at 85-58. The Rangers sit 71-73, two games back of the division lead and the league's final wild card. Nights like Sunday are how a .500 club stays relevant in September: multi-homer middle of the order, timely singles in the fifth, and a closer who finally locks the door.

Two shots off Seymour

Burger led off the second with a solo homer, then added a two-run blast in the fourth while Texas trailed 5-1. Both came off Rays starter Ian Seymour as the Rangers batted around to tie it. It was Burger's ninth career multi-homer game. He is tied for the club lead with 25 home runs and leads Texas with 82 RBIs.

Tampa Bay had sent 10 batters to the plate in a 4-0 second inning against MacKenzie Gore. That deficit doubled the pressure. Burger's second swing flipped the inning's math and gave Globe Life a game again. Ezequiel Duran stacked his 12th game this season with at least three hits and kept the lineup moving behind him.

For a Rangers club still two games under .500, beating the league leaders twice in four nights is the September resume item they needed. Burger's bat has carried the middle of the order for weeks. Sunday just put both swings on the same box score under the lights in Arlington while the wild-card math stayed alive for another series.

Fifth-inning surge, eighth-inning insurance

With the score tied 5-5 in the fifth, Elias Díaz singled off Steven Matz to score Burger, and Duran singled off Casey Legumina to bring home Logan O'Hoppe. The Rays cut it to one in the seventh. Corey Seager answered with a solo homer in the eighth that restored the two-run cushion.

Trevor Williams, signed by Texas last Tuesday after Washington released him, threw two scoreless innings for his first win since May 2025. Jacob Latz worked a clean eighth after Saturday's extra-inning loss. Jakob Junis finished a perfect ninth for his sixth save in seven chances. Both clubs hit the road Tuesday. Sunday belonged to Burger's bat and a bullpen that finally held a lead against the league's top team.