CHICAGO — The Rangers welcomed Josh Jung back to the lineup Tuesday with hopes that he’d be the linchpin to get their slow-starting offense to start steamrolling opponents.
Yeah, about that: The full-strength part lasted all of seven innings.
Wyatt Langford, who homered and doubled and has been one of the few consistent hitters in the lineup over the first two weeks, exited an eventual 10-6 loss to the Cubs after striking out to end the seventh. Right side tightness is how the Rangers described it. After the game manager Bruce Bochy said it was an oblique, slipped and mislabeled it a strain before backing off. Hey, the cold and the possibility of an injury to Langford had everybody a little rattled.
Langford will undergo an MRI on Wednesday to determine the severity.
But, he said, it is “very minor” and not as severe as the left oblique issue he dealt with during spring training. He missed almost three weeks of spring training, though the Rangers were being extremely cautious.
“I’ve kind of had it for a couple days, just like sore, not really bad at all,” Langford said. “I mean, obviously I’ve been able to play through it. I think I’m hoping a couple days and back to it.
“One day last week it felt kind of weird and then it went away. Today was the first time I really felt it since then.”
Langford, who hit his fourth homer of the season in the third inning and doubled to start the sixth, said he felt the twinge on the first swing of his seven-pitch at-bat against Porter Hodge in the seventh.
He took the next pitch, fouled off a series of four-seam fastballs and sweeping sliders before striking out on a four-seamer to end the inning. In the dugout, he mentioned it to Bochy in passing, and it didn’t pass any further. Bochy sent Kevin Pillar to left field.
“We didn’t want to take any chances,” said Bochy, who knows all too well that playing in 34-degree temperatures like those at the start of Tuesday’s game can contribute to soft-tissue injuries.
“I’m not going to address anything now. I’ll wait until we get some information. Obviously, he’s a big part of this lineup and this team. We’re hoping for the best tomorrow.”
Wyatt Langford's 4th HR of the season sails into the bleachers. pic.twitter.com/ErodlBGMgf
— MLB (@MLB) April 9, 2025
Langford, who spent three weeks on the IL last year after an early-season hamstring injury, was hitting only .244 through the first 12 games, but led the team in homers and has an .894 OPS.
Jung, who had been bothered by neck spasms at the end of spring training and ended up on the IL just three days into the season, was activated on Tuesday and immediately went into the lineup in the seventh spot.
The hope was that Jung would help “lengthen” out the lineup and get it jump-started after averaging only three runs through the season’s first 11 games. The Rangers had entered the day last in the majors in batting average at .178.
“I consider him a heart-of-the-order guy,” Bochy said of Jung. “We’ve talked about slug and he helps provide that, especially against left-handers, which we struggle with. But he’s just a tough hitter. He’s got a nose for an RBI and he’s a tough at-bat.”
To that point, Jung did return with something of a bang. After a dribbled infield single in his first at-bat, he doubled and scored a run to get the Rangers within a run in the seventh. Then, in the eighth, he tripled into the right field corner to drive home the tying run.
In the bottom of the inning, though, it all fell apart. Leody Taveras overran a fly ball in center field, leading to a leadoff two-base error. Jung later couldn’t scoop an in-between bounce leading to a run-scoring error and the Cubs piled up four runs to make it 10-6.
“It wasn’t the wind,” Taveras said. “It was just me. I overran it.”
On another day, that would be the story. But when the Rangers face the possibility of being without Langford for even a day or two, it takes precedence. And heading into Wednesday, they hope it’s only a day or two.
Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant
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