Texas Rangers Rookie Robby Ahlstrom Celebrates First MLB Win After Scoring Change

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Robby Ahlstrom, a rookie left-handed pitcher for the Texas Rangers, isn't planning on reliving the moment of celebrating his first Major League Baseball victory. Just four days before being officially recognized as a winner, Ahlstrom enjoyed a beer shower in the clubhouse following a road game against the Kansas City Royals. “I mean, we celebrated like I did (get the win). I mean everybody thought it was going to be that way," Ahlstrom remarked before the Rangers' game on Tuesday, just two days shy of his 27th birthday. The official recognition of his win came after an appealed scoring change that corrected the record in his favor. “A little interesting finding out after the fact,” he added, humorously noting, "I was more thinking of like, I don’t want to go through that beer shower again.”

Ahlstrom made his impact known in the fifth inning of a four-game series against the Royals last Thursday, stepping in with two outs and a runner on base. He successfully retired all four batters he faced, contributing to the Rangers' 4-2 lead. Although Ahlstrom was expected to be credited with the win, the official scorer erroneously awarded it to teammate Jacob Latz, who closed out the game. “No one wants to get beer poured on them if they don’t even get the win,” Latz stated, expressing relief that the victory was made official.

The Rangers contested the original scoring decision, gathering insights from Latz, who emphasized Ahlstrom's deserving nature for the win. MLB ultimately validated the appeal on Monday, and manager Skip Schumaker delivered the good news to Ahlstrom right before the pregame warmup. His teammates celebrated the announcement, with Schumaker commenting, “He got the beer shower already, so I’m glad he didn’t have to do that again.”

Ahlstrom, who made his MLB debut on June 3, shared his thoughts on the significance of the win: “You put MLB next to it, it’s kind of cool getting your debut, your first strikeout. But the ultimate goal is to come up here and help the team win ballgames,” he said. “So if you have a 'W' next to your name, you did something right. So I think that’d be the coolest part.”