Rangers History Today: A Hot Streak Amid Race For AL West Crown

On this day, the Rangers wrapped up an eight-game winning streak and it was the high point of the final two months of the season.

On this date in franchise history, the Texas Rangers wrapped up an eight-game winning streak, but it all went downhill from there.

On August 21, 2004, the Rangers were in the American League West race. They had spent most of July in the lead, and they were in the top spot in the division as late as August 5, when they were up by 1/2 game. Once they relinquished the lead, the Rangers stayed close, thanks in part to that eight-game winning streak.

Starting on August 13, the Rangers swept three-game sets with Tampa Bay and Cleveland, both at home. Then, the streak continued as they went to Kansas City. After a 5-3 win over the Royals on August 20, the Rangers won by the exact same score on August 21.

Mickey Callaway started for the Rangers, and while he only gave up two runs, he didn’t get out of the fifth inning. So reliever Frank Francisco ended up taking the victory. Carlos Almanzar and Ron Mahay each ended up with a hold, while Francisco Cordero recorded his 39th save of the season.

Manny Alexander, Eric Young and Michael Young each had two hits, while Mark Teixeira hit his 30th home run of the season.

With the win, the Rangers remained a 1/2 game back in the AL West. And, even when the streak ended the next day, with a 10-2 loss, the Rangers remained in the same position. 

But the Rangers fell fast. They went 4-5 the rest of the month, falling 4 1/2 games back by the end of August. The Rangers remained in third place the rest of the season, with the exception of a three-day stint in second place from September 23-25, during which they were two games back of the lead. But Texas couldn’t catch Anaheim, who ended up winning the division with a 92-79 record. The Rangers finished three games back at 89-73.

The season was the Rangers’ best since 1999, when they won their third AL West crown in four years.

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