Both left fielder Wyatt Langford and third baseman Josh Jung — two key pieces of the Rangers’ present and future — independently described Ecker’s dismissal as a surprise. It’s the first in-season staff change that either of them have been apart of during their young major league careers.

Bret Boone’s weekend started off pretty normal. The biggest news on Saturday was when he went to a baseball game at USC, his alma mater, where he threw out the first pitch ahead of a big win over rival UCLA.

Josh Jung was the only batter in the lineup without a hit for Texas, which was playing its first game since firing offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker and adding Boone, a former big league All-Star with one of baseball’s deepest pedigrees, to the coaching staff.