Pederson and Jung on why win was ‘huge’

Texas Rangers outfielder Joc Pederson believes”built-up aggression and anger” helped his side overcome a ninth-innings deficit and win their series opener against the New York Yankees at Globe Life Field.

Pederson, who has struggled for form this season and returned on July 27 after two months out with a right-hand fracture, flung his bat after tying the game with a home run in the ninth before Josh Jung followed suit in the 10th to seal an 8-5 MLB victory.

“That means a lot,” Pederson said of the comeback, which followed a 5-4 defeat at the Seattle Mariners on Sunday. “Baseball’s a lot more than one moment, so hopefully I can have more.”

JOC IN A PINCH TIES IT! #AllForTX pic.twitter.com/s3cDe9RHJ0

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) August 5, 2025

Yankees vs Rangers: Pederson praises team

After their 3-1 series defeat to the Mariners, Texas had been the only team without a comeback win of three or more runs this season, Pederson registering 2-for-21 with six strikeouts since his return from his lay-off as part of his first season with the team.

The 33-year-old credited his work with hitting coach Justin Viele after the seventh pinch-hit home run of his career.

“There was a lot of excitement and a lot of built-up aggression and anger from the long season it’s been,” said Pederson.

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“I was working on getting off my A swing and trying to get it simple. When things are going tough, it’s easy to clutter your mind – especially nowadays, with the mechanics and stuff like that.

“I just wanted to be the hitter that I normally am and unblock myself from a lot of those exterior things.

“We haven’t really been known for comeback wins this year. You get behind and it feels like you’re in quicksand. We really pulled together. When teams like [the Yankees] have a lead, it’s tougher to come back.

“You pile that on to the games in Seattle, which were really tough and we came up short there. To continue to grind and come back with a team win is huge momentum heading in the right direction against a team ahead of us in the wildcard.”

WALK-OFF BOMB FROM THE JUNGSTER! #AllForTX pic.twitter.com/xtT4ddBHiN

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) August 5, 2025

Jung: Yankees’ offense ‘can explode’

Jung called the conclusion “awesome” on his return from four games out with a calf issue and described Pederson and the Rangers’ performance as “electric”.

“I felt like I was floating around the bases – that was cool,” he added after his third career walk-off. “It’s huge – hopefully it gets everything going.

“Hopefully it gets the offense going because we’ve struggled on the road. Baseball’s hard sometimes. That was special to watch.

“We know this offense can explode at any moment – we’ve seen glimpses of it. Now it’s about doing it consistently.

“We put up a bunch of runs today and I hope we can just continue to do that. The way we responded tonight and took that win – hopefully it catapults us forward.

“We’re facing some really good teams over the next couple of weeks so this is a big test for the offense.”

Cinema 🎬 pic.twitter.com/UAiKHKgigc

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) August 5, 2025

Texas Rangers schedule

The teams meet again in the same setting on Tuesday (20:05 ET / 17:05 PT) and Wednesday (14:35 ET / 11:35 PT), with the Phillies and Diamondbacks next for the Rangers.

“It’s been a long road but we’re not done and there are a lot of games left,” said Pederson. “The beautiful thing about baseball is that it’s one pitch at a time.

“As frustrating as it’s been – and I’ve lost sleep over the last couple of months of production – it’s irrelevant and I can’t change that now.

“All I can do is focus on what’s right in front of me and continue to put together quality [performances].

“You’ve just got to keep putting one foot in front of the other with a good attitude. Usually, when I do that, I’m a good player.

“Chasing that instant gratification is what continuously gets you in trouble instead of buying into the process of showing up, putting your work in, swinging at good pitches that you can handle and taking the ones you can’t hit hard.”