Helman produces another big game, Rangers breathing down Houston's neck for playoff berth

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ARLINGTON, TX – The Rangers have been significantly better at home this season than they have been on the road and that home field advantage has been helpful as of late.Entering Tuesday night’s game, the Rangers sat three and a half games behind the Astros in a fight for the division and a game and a half back of the Mariners for a wild card spot.Before Texas’ game ended, it was three games behind Houston after its loss to the Blue Jays, so with a win the Rangers could pull within a series of Houston for the division.After a scoreless first, the Rangers took an early lead on Cody Freeman base hit that scored Josh Jung.In the top of the fifth, Michael Helman would produce his first highlight play of the day, robbing a potential two run shot from Brice Turang.Teammate Jack Leiter said after the game, “This was Helman’s game. It’s two in a row…It's a pretty unbelievable two days. I'm sure he'd say that's pretty hard to top for the best two days of his life. It’s incredible. He's a really good player.”Though Helman’s robbery got the Rangers one out away from ending the inning, the Brewers were able to rally and produce three runs after a Christian Yelich single brought home Joey Ortiz, and then a William Contreras double scored both Jackson Chourio and Yelich.With a 3-1 lead going into the next half of the inning, Michael Helman got the team right back into the game with a two run home run for his second of the series and his fifth of the season.Now with 17 RBIs in his last 17 games, when asked about these last 24 hours specifically Helman said, “A huge adrenaline rush, I couldn’t sleep last night. I had a bunch of adrenaline still going. But it’s cool. It’s fun. I just want to play the game hard, play the game right. When I'm on defense, I'm willing to put my body on the line to go make plays. When you play the game hard, good things usually happen.”The Rangers weren’t done yet though, posting another pair of runs in the inning after Wyatt Langford tripled and scored Smith.Then later scored himself on Kyle Higashioka’s double.No more scoring would occur until the ninth inning where the Rangers found themselves up 5-3 until Jake Bauers hit his seventh home run of the year to make Texas sweat out the win just a little bit more for a 5-4 final.After the game, manager Bruce Bochy was very complimentary of the player of the game, Helman, mentioning, “I’m happy for this guy. Here he is getting a chance and taking full advantage of it. He's been fun to watch. … He's had two terrific games, but he's helped us in some other games too. I couldn't be happier for a guy like this. We're having fun with it, watching this guy play so well.”With one more game left in the series before traveling to Houston, the Rangers have their brooms out for this afternoon as they eye the series sweep.MORE BASEBALL NEWS:Texas Rangers fans ecstatic over Michael Helman performanceCubs legend Anthony Rizzo's retirement recalls the single moment that ended 108 years of miseryKyle Schwarber receives high praise from Phillies after 50th home runWhy the Cardinals are letting Masyn Winn play through a meniscus tearYankees' Aaron Judge passes Yogi Berra on historic New York franchise record list