Rangers put exclamation point on career-high night for Latz with 10th-inning win

BALTIMORE -- Jacob Latz’s career began as a starter. But, aside from his debut in 2021, the left-hander has worked primarily as a reliever in the Majors.

That may soon change. Making his second spot start of the season, Latz completed six innings for the first time in his big league career, allowing two runs on one hit and three walks over six-plus innings in the Rangers’ 6-5 10-inning win over the Orioles at Camden Yards.

Oh, and those six innings? They were scoreless and hitless. (Both runs scored after Latz exited two batters into the seventh, when Chris Martin gave up back-to-back-to-back home runs.)

“Obviously, tough ending there,” Latz said. “But I’m happy we rallied for the boys. Everyone was out there, really pulling for this one, and so -- I’m happy that we came out on top.”

Latz didn’t even realize -- not fully, anyway -- that the Orioles hadn’t recorded a hit until he took the mound for the seventh. But he quickly cleared the thought from his mind before facing the first batter, Ramón Laureano, who took advantage of a down and inside changeup to record the first hit of the night.

But neither that hit nor those five runs that crossed the plate in the ensuing few at-bats characterized Latz’s start. What stood out was the six prior innings, particularly the fourth and fifth, in which Latz and the Rangers worked around a leadoff walk.

A double play negated that first walk in the fourth, with Latz trusting in his defense to get the job done. In the fifth, though, it was all Latz, who rebounded with three swinging strikeouts in a row after a brief mound visit allowed him to gather his thoughts.

“When you’re on the mound, sometimes [it] doesn’t go quite as well and guys get on base,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “But it’s important to slow the game down, keep your poise -- and he did that. And I thought he had a good tempo, but he and [catcher Kyle Higashioka], I mean, what a job those two did working together tonight.”

Latz credited his poise on the mound, even in tricky situations, to the time he spent as a reliever. It also helps that the organization has begun using him in higher and higher leverage spots before handing him the ball for two spot starts now.

“Getting put into the relief role kind of just woke me up a little bit,” Latz said. “It’s never good to get moved to the bullpen, it usually means you weren’t that good as a starter. So I just had a little more aggression behind what I was doing with my preparation and how I was going out there and attacking hitters. And that was just sticking with me, to this point.

“[Before], when I was a starter, I would just get -- I worked myself up too much, and I think about too many things. Whereas now, I just have a much clearer mindset.”

The Rangers stretched out Latz specifically for these spot starts -- and some lengthier relief innings. With Spring Training injuries, they were already short on rotation arms heading into the season. More injuries left them even shorter, though they had Cody Bradford and Jon Gray’s impending returns to bank on.

But with the news early Tuesday afternoon that Bradford will require left elbow surgery, which will be performed on Wednesday, the Rangers needed Latz more than ever. And he came through.

While Latz may be stretched out, he was nowhere near stretched enough to go the full nine innings -- no matter how lights-out he was.

The Rangers were willing to give him the seventh, but once he gave up a leadoff single and a walk, it was time to call on the bullpen. Excluding Martin, the relief corps did their job exceptionally well, with Hoby Milner, Luke Jackson and Robert Garcia combining for four scoreless innings to set the table for the 10th-inning victory.

The real hero of the day, though, was Latz, who one teammate playfully referred to as “Jacob deGrom” postgame. And who knows, maybe Latz has more starts -- and not just the “spot” variety -- in his future.

“We’ll talk about that,” Bochy said. “... He’s a weapon, whether he starts or he’s in the bullpen, but he’s stretched out -- and you’ve heard me say before, he’s got starter stuff.”