Rangers on brink of World Series championship after Game 4 romp
More Teams. More Games.
Marcus Semien gives the Rangers a staggering 10-0 lead in the third inning with a three-run home run. (0:42)
PHOENIX — The Texas Rangers were dealt a devastating blow, then did what they seem to do every time adversity strikes this season: They dominated in the face of it.
Moments after learning that Max Scherzer and Adolis Garcia would be forced off their World Series roster because of injury, the Rangers put together arguably their most complete performance of this postseason, storming past the Arizona Diamondbacks with an 11-7 drubbing in Game 4 on Tuesday night.
The Rangers, with a 3-1 lead in the Series, are now one win away from solidifying the first championship in their 62-year franchise history.
Garcia, the American League Championship Series MVP, spoke during a pregame meeting.
“He’s been a big part of what we do. We’re trying to go out there and win this one for him,” Corey Seager said. “That took a lot of guts for him to come out there and speak. We know how he feels. He wants to be out there with us, and it really fired the guys up.”
The Rangers put themselves on the verge of the title within the first three innings, scoring 10 of their runs before recording their ninth out and quieting a sold-out Chase Field crowd. Marcus Semien contributed a two-run triple in the second and a three-run homer in the third. Seager unleashed a 431-foot home run off the facing of a wall beyond the right-center-field fence. And Travis Jankowski — the speedy, glove-first outfielder who replaced Garcia in right field — contributed a two-run double.
“When it comes to a superstar player like Adolis, you don’t replace him. You just go out and play your game and hope the team rallies around it,” Jankowski said.
Andrew Heaney cruised in the midst of the Rangers’ onslaught, contributing five innings of one-run ball on 80 pitches and pitching much deeper into the game than anybody anticipated. The Rangers — like the Diamondbacks — were planning to stage some semblance of a bullpen game. Instead, Heaney lasted long enough to capture the first postseason win of his 10-year career.
“That’s the kind of offense that we want to put together, especially in the biggest games of the year,” Semien said. “And on the road, just to kind of quiet the crowd down so Heaney can focus, too.”
The D-backs’ best chance came in the fourth, an inning that began with two runners in scoring position and ended with only one run. By the time they scored again — in a four-run eighth inning highlighted by Lourdes Gurriel Jr.‘s three-run homer — it was far too late.
“This was nothing that we saw coming. 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,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said.
The Rangers, who saw Scherzer suffer back spasms while pitching early in Game 3 and Garcia sustain an oblique strain later in that same contest, have now won 10 consecutive road games this postseason.
One more and they’ll be World Series champions.
Nathan Eovaldi will try to close it out Wednesday night against Zac Gallen in a rematch of Game 1 starters.
“It’s business as usual. We’ve got our top guy on the mound now,” Semien said. “He’s been great the entire postseason. He’s got the dog in him. I’m excited for him. He’s a guy who’s been waiting for this moment the entire year.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.