The Texas Rangers have won the World Series for the first time in franchise history after a 5-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night.
Despite being shut down offensively for most of the game, the Rangers came through with five late runs to secure the title.
In a rematch of the Game 1 pitching matchup, Texas’ Nathan Eovaldi and Arizona’s Zac Gallen battled in a pitcher’s duel for six innings. Both held their opponents to no runs as the teams breezed through the early innings, and Gallen held Texas without a hit for most of his outing.
The Rangers finally got to Gallen in the seventh as shortstop Corey Seager singled through the hole at third base to lead off the inning. Outfielder Evan Carter followed with a double to put two runners in scoring position, and Seager scored on an RBI single from Mitch Garver to take a 1-0 lead.
Carter was erased from the basepaths as the Rangers threatened to score more with runners on the corners after forcing Gallen to be removed from the game when Nathaniel Lowe’s groundball forced Carter into a rundown, and he was tagged out between third and home.
Arizona put the tying run on base in the bottom of the inning, but Josh Sborz got Christian Walker to line out to center and end the threat.
Texas loaded the bases in the top of the eighth but could not add to the lead as Kevin Ginkel retired Carter and Garver to keep the deficit to just one run.
However, the Rangers eventually added more runs as Jonah Heim’s ninth-inning single made it a 3-0 game, and Marcus Semien blasted a two-run homer.