(Baltimore) Mitch Garver hit a grand slam in the third inning and the Texas Rangers won their fourth straight game to open the playoffs, pushing the Baltimore Orioles to the brink with an 11-8 victory on Sunday.
The Rangers lead 2-0 in this American League sectional series.
The Rangers have outscored the Rays and Orioles, the two best regular-season teams in the AL, 25-11 in points so far.
Bruce Bochy is one win away from his first American League Finals as manager. He reached that milestone four times with the Nationals, winning the World Series three times with the Giants.
Gunnar Henderson and Aaron Hicks hit a long fly ball for the Orioles.
Hicks drove in five runs, including a three-run homer with one out in the ninth inning, which put the Orioles within three runs of the Rangers for the first time since Garver’s grand slam. Unfortunately, it was already too late.
The Rangers lost for the first time in the playoffs when the Orioles scored two runs in the first inning. The Rangers, however, responded with five runs in the next inning to put the game away for rookie Grayson Rodriguez.
Garver, who had yet to play in a playoff game this year, hit his grand slam to go 9-2.
Garver again batted with the bases loaded, this time in the fifth. His grounder gave his opponent a double play, but it still earned him another point.
Corey Seager became the first player to walk five times in a single playoff game while also scoring two goals.
Rangers players had 11 hits in the game, the highest total since 2019. Of those 11 players, six scored.
The Rangers became the first team in Major League Baseball playoff history to record seven hits and seven walks after three innings, according to Sportradar.
Adolis Garcia ran in his single and Jonah Heim added another with a single, one out later, to make it 5-2 and eject Rodriguez from the game.
Neither starter pitched until the fifth inning. Cody Bradford got the win in relief of Jordan Montgomery, who pitched 3 2/3 innings.
Rodriguez had the loss on his record, allowing five runs, six hits and four walks.
Jorge Mateo finished the game with four hits, including two doubles for the Orioles.
Henderson’s home run in the fifth made it 10-5.
