(Arlington) The Arizona Diamondbacks tied the World Series 1-1 against the Texas Rangers with a 9-1 win in Game 2 on Saturday night.
Jordan Montgomery of the Rangers and Merrill Kelly of the Diamondbacks were the starting pitchers for the second matchup.
The first inning ended uneventfully, as Kelly struck out Evan Carter and neither team placed a player on base.
Tommy Pham hit the first hit of the game in the second inning. Montgomery then got a double play on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s hit.
After two innings, both starting pitchers had thrown 20 pitches against opposing batters.
Alek Thomas singled to start the third inning, the Diamondbacks’ second hit of the game.
The Rangers won the series opener in 11e inning and lead the World Series 1-0. The third clash will take place Monday evening in Arizona.
In the top of the fourth inning, with one out, Gabriel Moreno sent Montgomery’s ball over the fence to give the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead.
Pham hit a double, then scored to make it 2-0 on Gurriel Jr.’s hit to the outfield. It was Pham’s second hit.
Carter scored the Rangers’ first hit with a single against Kelly.
Geraldo Perdomo singled against Montgomery, before stealing second base. The Diamondbacks, however, were unable to take advantage.
Mitch Garver, the first batter to step to the plate in the fifth inning, drove Kelly’s ball into the stands to put the Rangers on the score and cut the lead to 2-1 with a solo homer.
Kelly gave up three hits and one earned run in seven innings of work.
Nathaniel Lowe came close to imitating his teammate moments later, when his ball sailed just a few yards short of being another home run for the Rangers. The latter, however, was withdrawn.
With two outs in the top of the sixth inning, Pham hit a powerful ball to right field, and managed to get to second base. However, he got ahead of himself from the next pitcher, moving too far from the base. He was called out when Montgomery returned the ball to second base.
In the seventh, with Thomas at second base, Evan Longoria hit a single for a run, which ended Montgomery’s night.
Montgomery was replaced by Andrew Heaney.
The Diamondbacks made it 4-1 when Longoria, then at second base, drove to the plate on Corbin Carroll’s single.
The Diamondbacks dealt the Rangers a big blow in the eighth inning when they loaded the bases with a walk, and the next two batters singled for one and two runs respectively. Quickly, the score was now 7-1.
On the 16e hit, Emmanuel Rivera added two more runs for the Diamondbacks in the ninth inning to make it 9-1.