The Texas Rangers scored seven runs while the Atlanta Braves scored six runs.
The Rangers couldn’t let Eli White get away with it.
With MacKenzie Gore back to having one of those kind of days following stepping up for a heroic turn in the first half finale, it was former Ranger White that turned a 1-0 Rangers lead into a deficit with a two-run home run in the bottom of the second.
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Before the second inning ended, it was 4-1 Braves and it seemed like they were well on their way to another blowout of the Rangers. Poor pitching has plagued Gore on the road this season and he tends to have innings that get away from him. That was the second inning today.
Luckily for Gore, the Rangers were in the mood for a battle as they rebounded to score two in the top of the fourth. It could have been more but the Braves were wise enough to know that to stop a Rangers rally, all you have to do is allow them to load the bases.
Texas packed the bags but that is exactly where the rally ended as a one-out, bases-loaded opportunity couldn’t plate the tying run. They nearly pulled it off but a left-hander was brought in to face Evan Carter and he popped out to shallow right field where White ran in to make a sliding catch and dash his old team’s hopes for a bigger inning.
Two pitches later, in the bottom of the third, the Braves went up 5-3 when Michael Harris II went deep for a solo shot off Gore. That sequence felt like a killer but the Rangers still weren’t dead yet.
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Gore settled in a little which allowed the Rangers to enter the top of the sixth still down a couple runs. After Carter was victimized of a chance to tie the game earlier, he hit one where White couldn’t reach it for a two-run home run.
It was Carter’s first dinger since his first game of the month on July 2 and it tied the game 5-5. The Rangers would continue their rally, which included three straight two-out hits, to go up 7-5 with a four-run inning of their own.
The failures with the bases loaded would crop up again, however, as the Rangers had a one-out bases-loaded chance in the top of the seventh with an opportunity to put the game away. Instead, pinch hitter Justin Foscue went up 3-0, took a strike, and then grounded into an inning-ending double play.
In the next half inning, the Braves chipped away at Texas’ lack of extra insurance with a two-out rally against Tyler Alexander which scored a run to make it 7-6. With the potential tying run on second, Alexander was able to get White to line out to Carter to end the threat.
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For the first time since late June, the Rangers had their high leverage one-two punch of Jakob Junis and All-Star Jacob Latz ready to tackle a situation such as a one-run game in the final innings. Junis allowed a two-out hit in the eighth in his first outing in July, which prompted Skip Schumaker to summon Latz for his patented four-out save, which he accomplished without incident.
Gore hasn’t enjoyed much success for months now, and the inexplicable inability to produce with the bases loaded remains an albatross dangling from Texas’ neck, but as it has been literally more often than not, the Rangers earned the ability to greet the win column again today.
Player of the Game: Joc Pederson led off the game with a solo home run but he also scored three of Texas’ seven runs, which is exactly what you want from your svelte leadoff hitter.
Up Next: The Rangers and Braves close out this series with a rubber match potentially featuring RHP Nathan Eovaldi for Texas against RHP Grant Holmes for Atlanta.
The Sunday finale afternoon first pitch from Truist Park is scheduled for 12:35 pm CDT and you can watch it via the Rangers Sports Network.
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