ARLINGTON — The Texas Rangers nearly lost because of four consecutive pitches that almost unraveled a game’s worth of effort. They instead won because of three consecutive pitches that sparked an expedited rally.
Yeah, these things have a tendency to develop quickly, but don’t feel too left behind if you can’t keep up.
Even the fastest of us need a minute.
“By the time I came in here [postgame],” center fielder Wyatt Langford said inside the Texas clubhouse, “I was still out of breath.”
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The Rangers, bolstered by base hits on three consecutive pitches in the bottom of the ninth inning, carded a walkoff 4-3 win vs. the Cleveland Guardians Friday night at Globe Life Field.
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The trio of Langford, shortstop Corey Seager and designated hitter Joc Pederson strung together a rapid attack against Cleveland closer Cade Smith to take the first game of a pivotal series and ensure another Nathan Eovaldi start did not go to waste and another bullpen erosion wasn’t the cause of death.
“No doubt,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said, “that’s one of our best wins.”
Langford, who drove in the team’s second run with a sixth-inning home run vs. right-handed starter Slade Cecconi, led the ninth off with a five-pitch at-bat that ended with a hard-hit ball into center field. He ran to first base and offered a “let’s go” to the Texas dugout before he refused to settle for what looked like a single.
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The 23-year-old churned around first and slid into second in time to beat the throw from center fielder Angel Martínez. He popped up and fist-pumped back toward his team’s bench.
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“I think I looked at the dugout and yelled something,” Langford said, “Then I looked back and said, ‘Oh shoot, I think I can get to second.'”
Seager tied the game with a 108.5 mph double into center field off of Smith on the next pitch. Pederson, who was not available to reporters in the Texas clubhouse postgame, walked it off with a 104.5 mph double one pitch after Seager’s hit. The entire sequence — from Langford’s hit to Pederson’s — lasted 1 minute, 38 seconds.
“Good hitters, doing their thing, that’s what that was,” Bochy said. “We had the right guys coming up there in the ninth.”
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It erased a fumbled eighth inning after another gem from Eovaldi. The right-hander, whose 1.73 ERA now leads all of baseball, pitched seven innings of one-run ball and threw 104 pitches before he turned it over to the Texas bullpen.
Left-handed pitcher Hoby Milner loaded the bases with no outs on his first four pitches via a hit by pitch and two singles before right-hander Phil Maton replaced him and allowed Cleveland third baseman José Ramírez to hit a go-ahead two-run double that gave the Guardians a 3-2 lead. The Rangers overtaxed bullpen entered play Friday with a 6.41 ERA and a 2-5 record in the team’s previous 10 games.
Eovaldi allowed a single run on back-to-back doubles in the second inning. The Rangers tied the game on a home run from first baseman Rowdy Tellez in the fifth and took their first lead on Langford’s blast in the sixth.
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“Obviously, when a guy goes out there and does that, you want to get a win for him,” Langford said of Eovaldi. “He’s pretty much done it every start this year.”
Immortalized! See photos from the Rangers’ unveiling of Adrian Beltre’s statue outside Globe Life Field 17 imagesView GalleryRelated StoriesView MoreWatch: Joc Pederson’s walkoff hit caps Rangers’ lightning fast rally to beat GuardiansWith Evan Carter on the IL, it’s time Wyatt Langford becomes Rangers’ center of attention
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