The Texas Rangers on Tuesday unleashed an early barrage in an 11-7 defeat of the Arizona Diamondbacks to move within one victory of a first-ever World Series title.
Star shortstop Corey Seager and Marcus Semien blasted home runs as Texas seized a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven MLB championship series.
Texas were rocked earlier on Tuesday by confirmation that star outfielder Adolis Garcia and veteran pitcher Max Scherzer would play no further part in the series after picking up injuries in Monday’s Game 3 win in Phoenix.
Photo: Joe Camporeale-USA Today
However, the Rangers responded to that double setback like a team determined to bring the series to a swift conclusion after a devastating burst of scoring that left them 10-0 up after the first three innings.
Texas manager Bruce Bochy praised his team’s response to news of the injuries to the talismanic Garcia and Scherzer.
“I said this earlier, before the game, I couldn’t be more proud of these guys, how they bounce back, how resilient they are, how they’ve dealt with things, whether it’s losing streaks, whether it’s injuries,” Bochy said.
“You can’t do anything about it. You know they’re going to happen occasionally. What’s important is how you handle it, and they just have handled it all so well the whole year,” he added.
Josh Jung got the first run on the board for Texas, scrambling home from third base after a wild pitch from Miguel Castro to make it 1-0 in the top of the second.
Semien then extended the lead with a two-out line-drive to left field that allowed Leody Taveras and Travis Jankowski to score for a 3-0 lead.
Arizona, going with a bullpen game from the mound, pulled Castro for Kyle Nelson, but the onslaught continued as Seager crushed a home run to center field for two more runs that made it 5-0.
Nelson fared little better in the top of the third inning, giving up two singles that allowed Jung and Nathaniel Lowe to get on base.
Nelson was pulled to make way for Luis Frias, but still Texas dominated, with Jonah Heim reaching on a fielder’s choice to load the bases.
Frias struck out Taveras to leave the Rangers two down, but again the visitors piled on, Jankowski’s double driving in runs for Lowe and Heim to make it 7-0.
Semien then rubbed salt in the wound with a three-run homer to left center field that brought home Heim and Jankowski for a 10-0 lead.
Arizona finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Lourdes Gurriel’s sacrifice fly allowed Gabriel Moreno to score, but by that stage the damage had been done and there was no way back for Arizona with Andrew Heaney and Dane Dunning shutting down the Diamondbacks’ scoring.
Heim added another homer for Texas to extend the lead to 11-1 in the top of the eighth, before Tommy Pham drove in a run and Gurriel hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the inning to give Arizona’s fans something to cheer about.
The Diamondbacks tacked on two more runs in the ninth.
Arizona skipper Torey Lovullo said his team had been blindsided by Texas’s early run feast.
“This was nothing that we saw coming,” Lovullo said. “We’ve had guys that have been throwing the ball extremely well, picking up the baseball on defense. It all came unraveled on us there in a matter of two innings, and it’s 10 runs.”
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
RSS