PHOENIX – Corey Seager took a huge swing, barely got a hit, and sent a squibber through an open area on the left side of the infield for his team’s first hit in the seventh inning.
The Texas Rangers shortstop and World Series MVP delivered plenty of power during a standout run in October. But it was a little bit of luck that finally sparked the offense on Wednesday night and gave the Rangers their first title.
Considering the heartache this club suffered 12 years ago in one of the best Fall Classics of all time, Texas was certainly to blame.
Nathan Eovaldi pitched six tough innings, Mitch Garver broke the scoreless tie with an RBI single in the seventh, and the Rangers won the first World Series championship in their 63-year franchise history by beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 5 in Game 5 :0 defeated.
“It’s just great. That’s the vision, right?” Seager said. “It’s a really special moment.”
Marcus Semien hit a four-run home run in the ninth, and the Rangers, held scoreless by Zac Gallen for six innings, finished this postseason on the road with a record of 11-0 after winning the Fall Classic with three straight in the desert.
“Everything I’ve ever worked for is for this moment,” Semien said. “Gallen was incredible tonight. But we did it. When Corey got the first hit, everyone woke up. The pitching was unbelievable.”
In his first season at Texas, coach Bruce Bochy won his fourth World Series title, 13 years to the day after his first, which he won in 2010 when the Giants defeated the Rangers. He also won rings with San Francisco in 2012 and 2014.
Bochy, 68, helped banish some painful memories for Texas fans who watched their team come agonizingly close to the 2011 title, needing just two goals before losing to the St. Louis Cardinals.
“I was sitting in a chair there in Nashville and just enjoying it,” said Bochy, who came out of retirement to take the reins in Texas.
“I was there, believe me. I was very fortunate and blessed to be able to get back into baseball in a situation like that.”
One night, after building a 10-run lead in the third inning in Game 4, the Rangers completed baseball’s third all-wild-card World Series by defeating Arizona in a tough pitchers’ duel.
Gallen took a no-hitter into the seventh before giving up an opposing single to Seager, whose weak grounder found a hole. Rangers rookie Evan Carter – just 21 years old – followed with a double. Garver then delivered the first run, pumping his fist when a hard grounder up the middle hit Seager.
Garver was 1 for 17 at the plate in the series before his big hit.
While the Rangers held on to the 1-0 lead, Josh Jung and Nathaniel Lowe hit Paul Sewald early in the ninth period. Jung scored on a single by Jonah Heim, and Lowe was coming around from first base when centerfielder Alek Thomas allowed the ball to pass him on an error.
Two outs later, Semien’s two-run home run made it 5-0. It was the 13th time Texas scored at least three runs in an inning this postseason.
Meanwhile, on the mound, Eovaldi struggled out of trouble all night before Aroldis Chapman and Josh Sborz closed the door as the Rangers became the first team to win a World Series game despite scoring no hits or runs in six innings.
“I joked a little bit: I don’t know how many rabbits I have in my hat,” said Eovaldi, who improved to 5-0 with a 2.95 ERA this postseason. “I didn’t really do a good job attacking the zone tonight. But our defense is, once again, incredible.”
Sborz struck out four hits in 2 1/3 innings, earning his first save of the season. He threw a so-called third strike past Ketel Marte to reach the final, and jubilant Texas players rushed the mound to celebrate.
It is the first title for the Rangers, whose history dates back to 1961 when they were the expansion of the Washington Senators. They moved to Texas for the 1972 season.
Now, after five stadiums, around two dozen managers and 10,033 games, the Rangers are finally champions.
It wasn’t easy at all.
Texas led the AL West for most of the year, but grabbed the division crown on the final day of the regular season, taking on Houston. The Rangers weathered an early season-ending injury to rookie Jacob deGrom and a serious injury to Seager in April before the loss of red-hot slugger Adolis García and three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer in Game 3 of the World Series.
Still, players like Jordan Montgomery, backup José Leclerc and backup outfielder Travis Jankowski have picked up the slack for these resilient Rangers, pulling off a quick and impressive turnaround under general manager Chris Young after Texas lost 102 games in 2021, which ended last year’s sixth Losing season in a row with a score of 68:94.
A dispiriting 1-0 loss in the regular-season finale in Seattle gave the Rangers the fifth seed in the American League playoffs and sent them across the country to open the postseason in Tampa Bay, part of a two-week road trip that brought them in four cities – two on each coast. But after defeating the Rays and the AL East champion Orioles, the AL’s two winningest teams, Texas got revenge on 2022 World Series champion Houston, winning a hard-fought AL Championship Series in which the away team won all seven games.
That brought the Rangers to their first Fall Classic in 12 years. Once there, they became the first team since the 1966 Baltimore Orioles to win the World Series without committing an error.
Texas will celebrate Friday with a parade in the Arlington entertainment district near its stadium.
“We have a group of winners right now,” Lowe said. “When the bus driver is driving slow, we tell him, ‘Hey man, you know you’re driving a winning group,’ so we believed it through and through. We may have struggled at home, but we did it on the road and we have a special group.”
In the end, Texas had to prevail against the young and surprising Diamondbacks, who won just 84 games in the regular season but defeated the Brewers, Dodgers and Phillies in a remarkable postseason series that ultimately came to nothing.
“I’m sorry I didn’t do my job to get us there,” manager Torey Lovullo said, pausing as his voice cracked with emotion. “But I will. We all will.”
With some help from his defense, the bespectacled Gallen struck out his first 14 batters before striking out Lowe.
Eovaldi wasn’t as sharp, but still matched Gallen’s zero points on the scoreboard despite scoring five runs, his most runs in an appearance since 2013.
Arizona had some interesting scoring opportunities in the first five innings but was unable to convert them, going 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position.
Eovaldi made it through six, gave up four hits and scored five on 97 shots.
“He was a traffic cop tonight,” Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux said.
VALUABLE COMPANY
Seager, who also led the Los Angeles Dodgers to a championship in 2020, joins Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson as the only players to win two World Series MVP awards.
CONNECT FOUR
Bochy is the sixth manager to win four titles, joining Casey Stengel (seven), Joe McCarthy (seven), Connie Mack (five), Walter Alston (four) and Joe Torre (four). All of them are in the Hall of Fame and when Bochy’s career is over, it seems a given that he will also be enshrined in Cooperstown.
MONEY WELL Spent
The Rangers have had their eyes on this moment since December 1, 2021, when they committed more than half a billion dollars to sign Seager, Semien and pitcher Jon Gray, who delivered a key three-inning relief performance in Game 3. Big spending is enough That doesn’t always lead to titles — just ask the Mets, Yankees and Padres this year — but it worked for the Rangers.
STREAK STOPPED
Marte went 0-for-2, ending his postseason scoring streak at 20 games. However, he walked three times and reached base safely in all 21 postseason games of his career.
LONG AND TURNING ROAD
After baseball expanded its playoffs to 12 teams in 2022, the Rangers became the first team to win 13 postseason games. According to OptaSTATS, Texas also became the first club in any of the four major professional sports in North America to win 11 road games in a single postseason.
On the way to Cooperstown
Bochy’s cap, Seager’s helmet, Carter’s batting gloves, Semien’s jersey and Eovaldi’s spikes are among the World Series memorabilia being donated to the Hall of Fame.
THEN THERE WERE FIVE
Colorado, Milwaukee, San Diego, Seattle and Tampa Bay are the franchises that do not yet have a World Series championship. The Diamondbacks won their only title in 2001.
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