By Evan Grant
PHOENIX – Five thoughts from Game 4 of the World Series, in which the Rangers overcame significant injury news to pound Arizona early and take an 11-7 win and a commanding lead. The Rangers lead the best-of-seven series three games to one.
What it means: Pretty simple here: Win another game, win a world championship.
They have the chance to do that on Wednesday in Game 5 at 7:03 p.m. CT with Nathan Eovaldi, unbeaten in five postseason starts, on the mound. And if the Rangers don’t win Wednesday, they will host Game 6 – and Game 7, if necessary.
Not much more needs to be said. But here goes: With Adolis García and Max Scherzer ruled out of the series due to injuries, the reshuffled Rangers’ lineup quickly ruined Arizona’s attempt to throw a bullpen game. The Rangers scored five runs each in both the second and third innings. It took the crowd of 48,308 fans at Chase Field out of the game quickly.
Two-out trouble: Two-out hits are torture for opponents. The Rangers tortured Arizona with them Tuesday.
They scored nine of their first 10 runs on two-out hits. Marcus Semien, so silent for much of the postseason, had the biggest of those with a two-run triple on a slider that stayed on the outer third of the plate. He was able to yank it just inside the third base line and the ball kicked around in the corner for a while. Corey Seager followed with a 431-foot homer. Because that’s what Corey Seager does.
In the third, after Travis Jankowski’s two-out, two-run double, Semien was able to pull a fastball on the outer third into the stands for a three-run homer.
The Rangers also scored their first run with two outs. It came on a wild pitch.
Pitching fits: This shaped up as a battle of bullpens. But it never took shape. That was partly due to the Rangers jumping on the D-backs early, but the work of Rangers starter Andrew Heaney can’t be ignored.
Heaney, who had pitched 4.1 innings over two previous postseason starts combined, gave the Rangers five innings. It could have ripple effects into Wednesday’s potential clincher. Heaney’s work, combined with that of the offense, allowed the Rangers to minimize usage of their high-leverage relievers. Namely: Josh Sborz and José Leclerc. They nearly escaped without using Leclerc at all, but the D-backs put the first two runners of the ninth on base and, with two outs, Bruce Bochy went to Leclerc for the final out.
The Rangers had hoped to get six innings out of the combo of Heaney and Dane Dunning. They got that, but Dunning was only needed for one inning on Tuesday. The bullpen is in pretty good shape, but, if they want to use their closer to potentially record the last out of the season on Wednesday, he will be pitching for the third straight day for the first time since Tommy John surgery.
Jung, man: With García out of the lineup, perhaps the biggest offensive burden fell to rookie Josh Jung, who moved from eighth to fifth in the lineup. Jung delivered.
He had three hits for the evening, two of which started the Rangers’ twin five-run rallies in the second and third. He led off the second with a double into the right field gap, went to third on a grounder and scored on a two-out wild pitch.
In the third, Jung singled with one out to start the five-run rally that put the game out of reach.
Theft doesn’t pay: The Rangers’ two-out attack set the tone for the game, which was a big change from the first three games. With its aggressive baserunning and “chaos” style of play, the D-backs had set the tone in the first two games.
The Rangers demonstrated they were better prepared for it Tuesday. Ketel Marte led off the bottom of the first with a single. With two outs, he tried to steal second, but Jonah Heim fired a quick strike to the bag to get him for the final out of the first inning. It was the first time a Diamondbacks runner had been caught stealing after 21 consecutive successful attempts in the postseason. Arizona is second all-time in steals in a single postseason and had five over the first two games.
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