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ARLINGTON \u2013 Over the last two days, the Rangers have put themselves in position to rescue a\u00a0homestand in which they were no-hit once<\/a> and obliterated by a very bad man<\/a>, thanks largely to luck. <\/p>\n Or at least that\u2019s how the analytics mavens describe it.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n There is another word for it, too: Contact. <\/p>\n On Saturday, Ezequiel Duran\u2019s flare of a single to right field walked off Kansas City<\/a>, 7-6, allowing \u2014 are you ready for this? \u2014 the offense to rescue a bullpen that struggled. Now, that\u2019s a new twist. <\/p>\n But Duran\u2019s first career walk-off hit, another momentous moment in a coming-out kind of season, followed Jake Burger<\/a>\u2019s game-tying fisted jam shot into right field and Brandon Nimmo\u2019s infield single that deflected off the glove off Royals closer Lucas Erceg<\/a>. Lotta things had to bounce right for the Rangers. Luck. Maybe. But luck only happens with contact and forcing opponents to make plays. <\/p>\n \u201cI’ve said before that I put a lot of value in putting balls in play,\u201d manager Skip Schumaker said. \u201cThere are teams that will sacrifice contact for power. I believe in contact for a lot of guys. There are some guys in our lineup that need to slug; that’s also why they’re here, but the bottom part of our lineup also needs to be able to do the little things, put the ball in play, steal bases, play some small ball and help us find different ways to help win the game and they did that today.\u201d <\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n To his point, the Rangers had built a 3-0 lead going to the seventh, behind another strong outing from Kumar Rocker<\/a> and an offense that turned throwing errors, sac bunts, and infield hits into a two-run fourth inning. Save for Josh Jung<\/a>\u2019s first-inning homer sandwiched between strikeouts, the other six Rangers runs were scored over three innings in which they struck out only once. It ended in the fourth inning; the bottom of the order had forged that rally.<\/p>\n A night earlier, the Rangers had jumped out to an early lead with a dose of small ball in the first<\/a>, using walks, a stolen base and throwing errors to score four times with Duran having a key two-run single. <\/p>\n \u201cSomeone told me a long time ago, when I was in the minor leagues, that you hit .300 by using the whole bat,\u201d Nimmo said. \u201cAnd there was another saying, something like: \u2018good hitters get jammed.\u2019 It\u2019s because of regular contact and keeping guys on their heels a little bit. Contact and putting the ball in play puts pressure on the defense and it can really work to your advantage in some situations.\u201d<\/p>\n Full disclosure: While Nimmo scalded the ball at 102.5 mph, it was not what he wanted to do. It hit in front of home plate and then bounced up. Had Erceg fielded it cleanly or let it go, it might have been a double-play. But he reached up for it, something pitchers are largely told to avoid. It deflected enough for Nimmo, sprinting at 30.5 feet per second to beat the throw to first.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Nimmo\u2019s hit was actually the third of the inning, following a leadoff homer by Joc Pederson<\/a>, his fifth homer of the week<\/a>, and a Jung infield single to the hole. Bobby\u00a0Witt Jr. nearly rifled him down from the outfield grass, but the throw was a bit wide.<\/p>\n Burger followed by fisting the ball into right on a 2-0 count to tie the game, bring the infield and outfield in, and give Duran more opportunities to win the game. Duran was able to get a fastball away and muscle it to short right at just 73 mph. Jac Caglianone<\/a>\u00a0couldn\u2019t get there in time and couldn\u2019t throw out Nimmo at home. <\/p>\n \u201cI was thinking about this on deck,\u201d Duran said. \u201cI was not going to get too big [with his swing]. I was just going to put a good swing on it and enjoy the moment. It feels amazing. I can\u2019t even describe it.\u201d <\/p>\n Here is a try: It feels like a Gatorade shower, which he got later from his teammates. <\/p>\n