MINNEAPOLIS - The American League West race did not end Friday night. The Rangers' margin for error did.
Texas lost 10-2 to the Minnesota Twins at Target Field, the Associated Press reported, after Jacob deGrom allowed eight earned runs in four innings. Houston dropped a 6-5 decision at the Athletics later the same night. Both clubs finished at 79-81 with two games left.
Yahoo Sports noted that the twin losses locked in a first for Major League Baseball: whichever club takes the AL West will be the first division champion in a full season without a winning record.
The standings tie is only half the story for Texas. Designated hitter Josh Jung fractured the fifth metacarpal in his right hand when Twins starter Joe Ryan hit him with a 94.6 mph fastball in the first inning, manager Skip Schumaker told reporters after the game, according to the Dallas Morning News' Shawn McFarland and other outlets cited by MLB Trade Rumors.
Jung stayed in long enough to score on Wyatt Langford's RBI groundout, then left for a pinch hitter in the third. Further evaluation was planned for Saturday. He is not expected to play the final two regular-season games, and MLB Trade Rumors assessed him as unlikely to be ready even if Texas reaches an extended postseason run.
A second hand lost in the same stretch
Jung's absence lands on a lineup already missing Joc Pederson, who is on the injured list with a left-hand fracture. Pederson told reporters he is working toward availability for a wild-card series if Texas wins the division, with batting-cage work Friday and a plan for machine work Saturday and live batting practice Sunday, per the same MLB Trade Rumors report summarizing McFarland's postgame coverage.
For the final weekend, that leaves Texas without two of the bats that had been carrying the middle of the order. Ezequiel Duran is the likeliest option at third base while Jung is out, MLB Trade Rumors reported, with Justin Foscue and Nicky Lopez candidates for additional infield time.
Those are depth answers, not one-for-one replacements for a .299 hitter with a 136 wRC+ over 444 plate appearances this season.
Schumaker's postgame framing, carried by Sportsnet and the AP, was blunt without theatrics: the timing is not ideal, two games remain, and the club has to figure it out.
What the math still requires
Houston owns the season-series tiebreaker after going 9-4 against Texas. Under the current format, matching records at the finish line awards the division to the Astros. Texas has to finish with the better record - win one more game than Houston over the final two days.
CBS Sports and the AP spelled out the Saturday clinching path for Houston: an Astros win and a Rangers loss would end the race before Sunday. Yahoo Sports framed the weekend the same way - Rangers must outpace Houston's remaining results, not merely keep pace.
