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Jurickson Profar: I acted scared to see same pitch

How's this for confidence?

Recent Rangers call-up Jurickson Profar, all of 19 years old, said he feigned being scared at a knock-down pitch from Rays reliever Kyle Farnsworth in the 10th inning so he could see the pitch again.

Sure enough, Profar took the next offering in the same area down the right-field line for an RBI double that put the Rangers ahead in the 4-2 win in Tampa.

"I was acting like I was scared so he could throw the same pitch," Profar told ESPN Dallas 103.3's Eric Nadel and Matt Hicks after the win. "He did, and I got a good swing on it."

The double scored pinch runner Leonys Martin, who filled in on the bases after Rangers catcher Geovany Soto hit a two-out double himself off the wall in right-center.

Having already grounded into a hard-hit double play in the fifth on a great stop at second base by Ryan Roberts, Profar approached the at-bat against Farnsworth with confidence.

"As soon as Geo hit that double, I was thinking, we got him," he said.

Profar, who made his first start at shortstop Saturday, has cooled off a tad since becoming the youngest player in AL history to homer in his first at-bat last Sunday against Cleveland. He has three hits in nine at-bats (.333) with two doubles and two RBIs. He struck out as a pinch hitter in Friday's extra-innings loss to the Rays and added another strikeout Saturday.