Nathan Eovaldi pitched six gutsy innings, Mitch Garver broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the seventh and the Texas Rangers are World Series champions for the first time in their 63-year franchise history after beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 in Game 5 Wednesday night.
Marcus Semien homered late and the Rangers, held hitless for six innings by Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen, finished a record 11-0 on the road this postseason by capping the Fall Classic with three straight wins in the desert.
One night after Texas took a 10-run lead by the third in a Game 4 snoozer, it finished the Series by outlasting the Diamondbacks in a white-knuckle pitchers’ duel through eight innings, piling on four runs in the ninth for good measure.
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Gallen took a no-hitter into the seventh before giving up an opposite-field single to World Series MVP Corey Seager, whose weak grounder found a hole. Rangers rookie Evan Carter — all of 21 years old — followed with a double into the right-center gap. Garver then delivered the first run, pumping his fist as a hard-hit grounder got through the middle of the infield to score Seager and make it 1-0.
Garver was 1 for 17 at the plate in the World Series before his huge hit.
The Rangers tacked on four more runs in the ninth to break open the game. Semien’s two-run homer off Paul Sewald made it 5-0. The outburst was typical of the Texas offense, which scored at least three runs in an inning 13 times this postseason.
Eovaldi pitched out of trouble all night before Aroldis Chapman and Josh Sborz finished it.
It’s the first title for the Rangers, whose history dates back to 1961 when they were the expansion Washington Senators. They moved to Texas for the 1972 season and came agonizingly close to a World Series championship in 2011, needing just one strike on two occasions before eventually falling to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Now, after five stadiums, roughly two dozen managers and 10,033 games, the Rangers are champions.
“As a Texas Rangers fan, I am thrilled for Texas Rangers fans tonight,” former President George W. Bush, who was a minority owner in the Rangers in the early 1990s, said in a statement late Wednesday night. “I congratulate the owners, the managers and coaching staff, the front office, and the entire organization. And of course, I congratulate the players of this awesome team on winning the first World Series in our club’s history. This was baseball at its finest, and Laura and I are proud of this team.”
It wasn’t easy. Texas led the AL West for a big chunk of the season, but coughed up the division title on the final day of the regular season to rival Houston. The Rangers also weathered injuries to key pieces, particularly ace pitcher Jacob deGrom.
That loss in the regular-season finale at Seattle left the Rangers with the No. 5 seed in the AL playoffs and it sent them across the country to open the playoffs at Tampa Bay, part of two-week trip that took them to four cities — two on each coast. Then Texas got its revenge against Houston, winning a hard-fought series in seven games that brought them to the World Series.
Finally, the Rangers had to get past the Diamondbacks, who won just 84 games during the regular season but beat the Brewers, Dodgers and Phillies in a remarkable postseason run that finally fizzled.
Gallen was one of the best pitchers in the majors this season, starting for the National League in the All-Star game. But the 28-year-old hadn’t been as sharp in the playoffs, with a 2-2 record and 5.27 ERA over five starts.
That changed on Wednesday. The bespectacled righty was at his best, mowing down the first 14 hitters he faced before walking Nathaniel Lowe. He got some help from his defense in the fourth — shortstop Geraldo Perdomo made a nice grab on a hard-hit grounder from Marcus Semien, and Christian Walker was there to snag the one-hop throw to first.
In the fifth, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. tracked down Josh Jung’s shot into the left-center gap, catching it a few steps in front of the 413-foot sign.
Eovaldi wasn’t quite as sharp, but still matched Gallen’s zeros on the scoreboard despite walking five, which was his most in an outing since 2013.
The D-backs had some juicy opportunities to score in the first five innings, but couldn’t convert, going 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position.
Eovaldi made it through six, giving up four hits and striking out five over 97 pitches.
“With the win,” writes CBSSports.com’s Mike Axisa, “Rangers skipper Bruce Bochy became the sixth manager to win four World Series championships, joining Casey Stengel (seven), Joe McCarthy (seven), Connie Mack (five), Walter Alston (four), and Joe Torre (four). Those five men are all in the Hall of Fame. Bochy will one day join them in Cooperstown. His teams have won four of the last 14 World Series.”