The Texas Rangers fell short as they were looking to sweep the Cleveland Guardians and run their winning streak to seven.
Coming into play on Wednesday afternoon, the Texas Rangers had a chance to sweep the Cleveland Guardians and extend their winning streak to seven games.
Unfortunately for the Rangers, that opportunity did not come to fruition as they dropped the final game of their road trip 9-4.
It didn’t take long for Texas to fall behind in this one as the Guardians struck for a five-run second inning against starter MacKenzie Gore.
With a runner on third and one out, Cleveland catcher Austin Hedges pushed a squeeze bunt back to the mound, forcing Gore to attempt a flip play at home. But it wasn’t in time as Brayan Rocchio scored to make it 1-0.
Just pitches later, Gore fired a wild pitch past catcher Elias Diaz, allowing the Guardians to score another run.
Cleveland right fielder David Fry would come through with the big swing of the inning and the game as he blasted a three-run home run off Gore to make it 5-0.
Gore would finish the afternoon going just five innings while allowing those five runs on seven hits and one walk while punching out seven.
In the third, the Rangers would scratch across their first run of the afternoon as Kyle Higashioka drew a bases-loaded walk. However, that was the only run Texas managed in the frame despite having the bases full with no one out.
Three innings later in the sixth, the Rangers made a push using RBI hits from Diaz and Lopez to claw back into the game, cutting the deficit to just two.
Although two runs would be as close as Texas got as Cleveland put the game away, striking for a pair of runs in the seventh off both Cole Winn and Winston Santos, who made his major-league debut.
Santos would finish the day pitching two innings and allowing two runs on two hits with a walk and a strikeout in his first MLB action.
In the eighth inning, Diaz would continue his strong day by belting a solo home run out to left-center field, but that was the last piece of offense of the day for Texas.
Despite the loss, the Rangers still remain above .500 at a 44-43 clip. For now, they also remain in first place in the American League West.
Texas will return to Arlington, where they will open a three-game series with the Detroit Tigers at Globe Life Field on Thursday night.
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