The Texas Rangers used a walk-off error to take down the Los Angeles Angels 2-1 in a wild game at Globe Life Field on Friday night.
ARLINGTON, Texas -- According to Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker, baseball “doesn’t make sense sometimes.”
The Rangers' 2-1 extra-innings walk-off win over the Los Angeles Angels at Globe Life Field on Friday night certainly did not make sense.
Texas held the Angels off the board for nine innings, which is usually a guarantee for a clean victory.
However, the Rangers' offense squandered opportunity after opportunity, leading to a scoreless tie after nine.
“Our offense with runners in scoring position needs to get going; that is the truth,” Schumaker said after the game.
“Runners on third and bases loaded, we had a lot of chances tonight to break it open, not just to get one run but to really break it open. I love this game; this game does not make sense sometimes. We’ll take that win, though.”
Despite not coming through time and time again tonight, the Texas offense delivered when it counted.
Down to their final strike in the tenth, Wyatt Langford flipped a 102.3-mph fastball from Angels flamethrower Ben Joyce into right field for the first game-tying RBI in extra innings of his career.
“You know he [Langford] has been fighting,” Schumaker said. “For him to get a big hit at that time with the game that he had, he was frustrated.
“It shows a sign of maturity also to flush the last couple of at-bats. You never know if you have a big one left or when that’s going to come, and that is the mental side of this game that is so challenging for a young big leaguer to get through, and he did. For him to fight off that pitch, he’s so strong; he just needed to get it a little bit on the barrel, and he did..”
Just two batters later, Ezequiel Duran smashed a 100.8-mph one-hopper down to third baseman, where Los Angeles third baseman Denzer Guzman made a sliding play but fired wide of second base, where he was attempting to get a force out, allowing Langford to score the game’s winning run.
MacKenzie Gore got the start for the Rangers and was able to continue the run of strong starting pitching as he fired six shutout innings, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out six.
“I felt good going in,” Gore said after the game. “It’s always interesting when you face a team for the fourth time in terms of adjustments.
“They hit a couple changeups with two strikes early, and we started to go with some other stuff, so we kinda made an adjustment from the get-go on that but we still used it, and I thought we attacked guys against an aggressive lineup.
"Attacking but also staying out of the middle of the plate against a lineup that swings a lot is important, but [Elias] Diaz was great again and we executed enough for a solid to help us win a game,” Gore finished.
Following Gore’s outing, Cole Winn, Chase Silseth, and Jacob Latz combined to hold the shutout into extra innings, and Tyler Alexander allowed just one unearned run in the tenth and picked up the win.
