Foscue, Rangers Blank Nationals

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

August 18, 2026

Rangers 5, Nationals 0

ARLINGTON, Texas (Aug 18) — The Texas Rangers began their six-game homestand on a high note Tuesday with a 5–0 win over the Washington Nationals. With this win, the Rangers move to with a game of first place in the AL West behind the Houston Astros, who lost, 3–1, to the Los Angeles Angels Tuesday. Justin Foscue had a nice night that included a solo homer. The Rangers will try to add to this momentum by going for the series victory Wednesday evening with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 pm Central at Globe Life Field. Right-handers Cade Cavalli (10–5, 3.36 ERA) and Kumar Rocker (4–9, 4.50 ERA) will go head to head in that game.

Foscue Goes Deep

The Rangers took an early 1–0 lead in the bottom of the first against lefty Jackson Kent. Corey Seager and Wyatt Langford opened the frame with back-to-back singles. Seager reached third on the Langford knock. On deck was Jake Burger, who brought Seager home by grounding into a 6-4-3 double play.

The lead stretched to 2–0 in the bottom of the second. Ezequiel Duran went down swinging to lead things off. Foscue connected on a 1–2 pitch, sending it deep to left for his eighth home run of the season.

The Rangers tallied three more in the bottom of the third. Langford singled to left to lead off, and Seager followed with a double to right. Up next was Burger, who struck out swinging. Langford scored on the next play when Brandon Nimmo reached on a 4–2 fielder’s choice. It was fielded by second baseman Jorbit Vivas. The Nationals challenged the tag play at the plate. The call was upheld after a lengthy look, which determined that Langford slid safely under the tag of catcher Harry Ford.

Once things settled, Jackson loaded the bases by allowing a free pass to Duran. That brought up Foscue. He also drew a walk to force in a run represented by Seager. In his first at-bat since returning from the 60-day IL Tuesday, Danny Jansen popped to first. That brought up Cody Freeman, who plated Nimmo with a single that ricocheted off the glove of third baseman Brady House. The ball rolled into shallow left, allowing Nimmo plenty of time to score.

What Went Right for the Rangers

Justin Foscue has been a nice surprise for the Rangers this year. He has come up with some timely hits that have led to a lot of scoring opportunities for the Rangers. He may not have the flashiest numbers on the team, but his eight home runs have come in big moments. His dinger on Tuesday was one example.

A couple of the Rangers’ runs were scored in quirky ways. Nimmo grounded into the fielder’s choice to score Langford, and Freeman hit an infield single that plated Nimmo. Burger even turned a negative into a positive when his ground-ball double play in the first still allowed Seager to score.

What Went Wrong for the Rangers

The only thing that didn’t go the Rangers’ way was that they allowed eight men to reach base in this contest.

Fifth Win for Quantrill

Rangers starter Cal Quantrill turned in seven scoreless innings to earn the win. He improves to 5–4 on the year with a 3.13 ERA. His line was 4 H, 0 BB, 5 K, 91 pitches/61 strikes. Tuesday was Quantrill’s longest scoreless outing in over two years. He pitched 7 2/3 innings on May 3, 2024 at the Pittsburgh Pirates while he was with the Colorado Rockies. He needed only 91 pitches to cover the seven frames, his second-fewest pitches among his 15 career outings of seven or more innings pitched.

Quantrill did not allow a batted ball over 100.0 mph for his entire start, yielding only three singles. The Nationals entered Tuesday with the second-most batted balls of 100.0+ mph exit velocity in the NL. Quantrill did not issue a walk, marking his first appearance of four or more innings with no walks on the year. He only had two three-ball counts in 25 batters faced. His 67.0% strike rate was the second-highest mark among his nine starts this year.

Kent’s Outing

Nationals starter Jackson Kent took the loss in his second career start, tossing 3 2/3 stanzas. His line was 8 H, 5 R-ER, 3 BB, 3 K. Kent allowed his first blemish on the run-scoring double-play in the first before surrendering his first career home run on the solo shot by Foscue in the second. He was unable to limit damage in the third, as three hits and two walks in the inning led to another three runs. Kent was knocked out of the game after two straight two-out singles by the Rangers in the fourth. He became the first Nationals pitcher with eight or more walks over his first two career games since Shairon Martis walked eight over his first two career starts from September 4-12 in 2008. Kent was the third to do it in the majors this year.

Schumaker’s Postgame Comments

After the game, Skip Schumaker discussed Quantrill’s performance. “He was really impressive,” he said. “CJ Abrams had the leadoff double (in the first). Cody Freeman had a big play in the first inning and I think that was a big momentum-changing play. It kept them from scoring and, obviously, we scored in the first. For Cal to go seven innings to start this series after an off-day was huge. I asked for a really good start and I asked for offense to give him a cushion, and both sides accomplished that and it was just a good overall game.”