Justin Foscue and the Rangers turn the page, 'win the day' amid early-season gauntlet

Q: What did Justin Foscue achieve in the game against the Chicago Cubs?

Justin Foscue hit his first major league home run and helped the Texas Rangers secure a 6-0 victory.

Q: How did Foscue's performance impact his standing with the Texas Rangers?

Foscue's performance strengthened his sense of belonging on the team after overcoming a challenging journey since being drafted.

Q: What challenges did Justin Foscue face before his recent success?

Foscue faced injuries, a long hitless streak, and competition for his position, which made his path to success difficult.

Q: Who else contributed to the Rangers' victory alongside Justin Foscue?

Other contributors included Josh Jung, Jack Leiter, Cole Winn, and Alejandro Osuna, all of whom played key roles in the win.

Texas Rangers first baseman Justin Foscue (14) is congratulated by teammate Ezequiel Duran on his first big league home run during the fifth inning at Globe Life Field in Arlington, May 9, 2026. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News) ARLINGTON — When the day was finally over, after he hit the first home run of his major league career and contributed meaningfully to a win for the first time, too, Justin Foscue stood beneath a beer shower from his teammates and soaked it all in. “It's a really good feeling,” Foscue said Saturday after the Rangers 6-0 win snapped the Chicago Cubs' 10-game winning streak. “I just feel part of the team a little bit more now than I did before, and that's all I really kind of wanted in the first place. And that felt really good.” It has been a long journey from being the Rangers’ first-round pick in the COVID-shortened 2020 draft to contributing to a win in 2026. The narrative about his limits as a fielder had begun almost as soon as the second baseman was selected with the 14th overall pick. A year into his pro career, the Rangers went and signed Marcus Semien to a seven-year deal at his position. There were a number of oblique injuries. And then brief, unsuccessful stints in the majors that meant lots of time on the bench to deal with what became the longest hitless streak by an MLB player in 30-plus years. It carried over into 2025, too, which meant he had a winter to sit on the angst. Then this spring, given a “fresh start” by , he played well out of the chute, only to suffer yet another muscle strain that eliminated the chance of making the opening day roster. On top of everything else, only 24 hours earlier he’d, in his own words, “almost taken out the star shortstop,” in an . Might have had to sit on that overnight, too, had not reached out with a text telling him everything would be OK. When he arrived at the ballpark Saturday, he saw his name in the lineup and got ribbed, playfully by Schumaker, in the pregame hitters meeting, a sign that it was, indeed, a fresh start. “This is not an easy game,” Schumaker said after the win in praising Foscue. “It’s taken him some time to get up here and get a chance. But he has kept working and kept fighting and just was waiting for his opportunity. The belief he has in himself is what really good big, big leaguers have. There is a little bit of delusion. You have to have some sort of crazy belief in yourself because the critics can beat you down. And I'm proud that he kept fighting, kept believing in himself, no matter what people said or the stats said.” Said Foscue: “The last couple of years have been a lot of ups and downs. I’m proud of the way I go about my business every single day. I'm proud of the work I put in. And that's all I can do. I want to hold my head high at the end of my career, saying I gave it everything I got, and that's the attitude I bring every day.” Foscue was hardly the only reason the Rangers won Saturday. It was a good night for Kip Fagg, the scouting department, and player development, too. Foscue was one of four first-rounders who made a contribution. (2019) had three hits, including a homer. (2021) fought through inconsistent command to take a shutout into the fifth. (2018) pitched a sharp scoreless inning. Not just first-rounders, but lower picks and international additions, too. Gavin Collyer, a 12th rounder in 2019, and , signed out of Mexico, also had big contributions with two scoreless innings and two run-scoring hits. And like Foscue, Osuna bounced back from an embarrassing defensive play earlier in the week, when he initially broke back on a ball at Yankee Stadium that he then was late to get to. It opened the door for a six-run inning. On Saturday, he fought back from an 0-2 count to single in a run in the second, then singled in another in the fourth. “Every day is different,” Osuna said. “The game is really hard. For me, I try to turn to the next page and just come with more energy and more effort. Everybody makes mistakes; that is part of the game.” This is the message Schumaker tried to relate to players Saturday. The past is the past. On the day that Bobby Cox passed, he mentioned his own relationship with a Hall of Fame manager and how Tony LaRussa used to respond to mistakes. “Tony always used to always say onward,” Schumaker said. “On to the next pitch, the next at-bat, the next day. When he texts me, it’s always the last thing he says. And it’s something I’ve talked about back to when I get the job: Win the day. “I don’t want to say I don’t care about yesterday, but there’s nothing I can do about it now. The message we preach is ‘win the day.’ You get a little bit embarrassed on the field. They're going to get embarrassed again on the field. I've been embarrassed plenty of times as a player and coach. That's part of the game. It's how you bounce back that shows you what kind of person and what kind of character you have. And these young players showed a lot about that.” So Saturday, Justin Foscue relaxed, responded and drank in a beer shower for the first time of his career. And on Sunday, with his mom in the crowd on Mother’s Day, he’ll go out and try to win another day.

Justin Foscue and the Rangers turn the page, 'win the day' amid early-season gauntlet

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