Marcus Semien extended his hitting streak to 25 games at an opportune time, Nathaniel Lowe and Adolis Garcia belted solo home runs and the Texas Rangers went on to win 6-4 against the St. Louis Cardinals in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday night.
Texas posted its fifth consecutive victory while St. Louis dropped its fifth game in a row.
The day didn’t start off well for the Rangers. The team announced that ace Jacob deGrom would undergo season-ending surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching arm, and a few hours later the Cardinals jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a two-run home run by Nolan Arenado in the first inning.
However, the Rangers took control of the game by scoring six runs in a four-inning stretch. Mitch Garver started the scoring spree with an RBI double in the second inning off Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore. The Rangers tied the game at 2-2 on a solo shot by Lowe in the third.
Texas jumped in front 5-2 with a two-run double by Semien in the fourth, a play that included a third run scoring on a throwing error by St. Louis second baseman Nolan Gorman.
Semien’s hitting streak is the longest of his career and the longest in the majors this season. He is now three games shy of the Rangers franchise record of 28 set by Gabe Kapler during the 2000 campaign.
Texas extended its lead to 6-2 on a solo homer by Garcia in the fifth.
The Cardinals pulled to within 6-4 on solo home runs by Willson Contreras and Jordan Walker in the sixth, but that was as close as they would get.
Dane Dunning (5-1) got the win, allowing four runs on seven hits with two walks and one strikeout over 5 2/3 innings. Rangers reliever Cole Ragans finished the sixth and got the first out of the seventh before Josh Sborz got the final two outs of the seventh and struck out the side in the eighth.
Will Smith earned his 11th save with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Garcia finished 4-for-4 and Ezequiel Duran added three hits for Texas.
Liberatore (1-2) gave up five runs (four earned) on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts over four innings.
Brendan Donovan collected two of St. Louis’ seven hits.
–Field Level Media
