*Photo from The Columbian*
Texas leads series 2-1
Texas on the road is a whole different animal. Corey Seager homered, Jon Gray saved the day, and the Texas Rangers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 3-1 victory on Monday night in Phoenix.
After dropping game two at home, the Rangers went on the road and took control again, as they've done all postseason. Thanks to the contribution at the plate by Seager, the Rangers won their 9th straight road game and took the lead in the series.
Marcus Semien gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the 3rd inning, hitting an RBI single that scored Nathaniel Lowe. The next batter was Seager, who made no mistake with a two run home run to right field, making it a 3-0 game. Geraldo Perdomo got the D-Backs on the board in the 8th with an RBI single to make it a 3-1 score.
Seager said after the game that "Marcus put a good AB together right before me and drove in a run. And we're just trying to build off that. This lineup is building off each other constantly. No, I don't feel pressure. We've preached about this all year. It's a pass-the-baton mentality for us. You don't always have to be the guy that day. That's comforting. That takes stress off people. We've done a good job of that. We're hoping to continue to do it."
Max Scherzer was the starter for the Rangers, pitching 3 shutout innings before having to leave due to injury. Gray came out of the bullpen and added 3 more shutout innings, striking out 3 hitters. Josh Sborz, Aroldis Chapman, and Jose Leclerc closed out the D-Backs, with Leclerc getting the save.
Scherzer said of Gray's relief appearance that "Gray saved us. What an effort to be able to come in and just give us quality outs. Huge kudos to him for doing that. It shows you why we’re a great team."
Brandon Pfaadt started for the D-Backs, giving them 5 1/3 innings while allowing 3 runs. Miguel Castro pitched 2/3 of an inning, Kyle Nelson pitched one, Luis Frias worked 1 2/3 innings, while Andrew Saalfrank got the last out.
Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said of the loss that "It's a game of capitalizing on the right pitch at the right time, and we just didn't get that job done today. They did. They got a two-out hit from Semien and a two-out, two-run home run from Seager. And that was the difference in a game."
Game 4 of the series is on Tuesday night. Andrew Heaney starts for the Rangers as they go for a 3-1 series lead, while the D-Backs go with a bullpen game trying to even the series. Joe Mantiply will serve as the opener.
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