Rangers roll Diamondbacks, move one win from first championship

The Rangers paid tribute to the injured Adolis García by walloping the Diamondbacks repeatedly on Tuesday in Game 4 — though the D-backs answered back late — to move one win away from the first World Series title in franchise history.

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Texas Rangers at Arizona Diamondbacks, World Series Game 4: Rangers 11, D-backs 7 (Texas leads 3-1)

Game summary:

The D-backs entered the night hoping a bullpen game would pay dividends like it did in Game 4 of the NLCS, when eight Arizona relievers banded together to limit a potent Phillies lineup in a 6-5 win. It didn’t work out that way Tuesday.

As he did in the previous bullpen game, Joe Mantiply started for the D-backs. He got the four outs Arizona manager Torey Lovullo clearly wanted and was pulled in the second with a man on first and one out. Miguel Castro came in, got another out and then allowed the first run of the game on a wild pitch.

That wasn’t the end of the ugliness, as Castro was chased after allowing three baserunners and three runs, all with two outs. Kyle Nelson was Arizona’s next choice, and he made the unfortunate choice of hanging a slider against Corey Seager, currently the Rangers’ most dangerous bat in a lineup missing Garcia. Already ahead 3-0, Seager’s two-run homer put the Rangers up five runs.

That shot made Seager the first shortstop in MLB history to homer three times in a World Series. It was also his fourth homer in his past five games.

Giving up five runs with two outs at home is painful. You know what’s even worse? Doing the same exact thing the next inning.

Luis Frias replaced Nelson, reached two outs with the bases loaded, then allowed an RBI double to Travis Jankowski, Garcia’s replacement in the lineup. Marcus Semien followed with a three-run homer to officially make it a laugher.

In the top of the third inning, the score was 10-0 Rangers. To Arizona’s credit, Chase Field stayed relatively full for the rest of the game, though they had one noticeable exit in the form of an idiot on the field. Other fans made their own fun by throwing paper airplanes onto the field. Both incidents earned a chastisement from the Chase Field announcer.

The real punchline, however, was Ryne Nelson entering in the fourth and throwing 5 1/3 innings, allowing just three hits and one earned run. The D-backs later made the score a lot more respectable with a four-run eighth inning, capped off by a three-run homer from Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and two more runs scored in the ninth.

Bullpen games are often quite effective, given the difficulty of adjusting to a new pitcher every at-bat, but the Rangers had already seen every reliever Arizona threw at them in those first three games — twice in the cases of Castro, Nelson and Frias. It’s tough work fooling the Rangers’ lineup several times in one week.

With their backs now against the wall, the D-backs can only hope they have a few surprises (or long starts from Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly) remaining.

Key moment:

The meaning of a big hit is diluted in a high-scoring win, but the Rangers’ first runs represented a significant moment by themselves.

The Rangers sent up Semien with two on and two outs in the second inning. Until a day or two ago, the All-Star second baseman’s underperformance had been one of the Rangers’ few issues this postseason, but he seemed to break through Monday in Game 3, with an RBI single to open the scoring.

He got more than that Tuesday, scoring two with an RBI triple. One inning later, he notched his first homer of these playoffs.

Semien entered Tuesday hitting .214/.276/.314 in the postseason, but he delivered a big bat when the Rangers needed a new one.

Impact player:

While the Rangers’ offense was going to town on the D-backs’ bullpen, Andrew Heaney was demonstrating the value of a starting pitcher.

The southpaw spent much of September in the bullpen and appeared as a reliever in his previous two outings, but he got the start Tuesday and pitched five strong innings, exiting after 80 pitches.

Much has been made of the Rangers’ spending to reach this point. Heaney’s two years and $25 million are looking like a pretty solid investment right now.

What’s next?

Game 5 begins at 8:03 p.m. ET Wednesday. The Rangers will give the ball to Nathan Eovaldi (4-0, 3.52 ERA this postseason) looking to win the franchise’s first World Series title, while the Diamondbacks will turn to Zac Gallen (2-2, 5.27 ERA) in hopes of sending the series back to Texas.

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