(Baltimore) Mitch Garver hit a grand slam in the third inning and the Texas Rangers won their fourth straight game to open their 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 top two teams in the regular season in the AL, 25-11 in points so far.
Bruce Bochy is one victory away from his first American League final as manager. He reached this milestone four times in the Nationals, winning the World Series three times with the Giants.
Gunnar Henderson and Aaron Hicks hit a long ball for the Orioles.
Hicks drove in five runs, including a three-run homer with one out in the ninth inning, which brought the Orioles within three runs of the Rangers for the first time since Garver’s grand slam. Unfortunately, it was too late.
The Rangers trailed 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 end rookie Grayson Rodriguez’s game.
Garver, who had yet to play a playoff game this year, hit his grand slam to make it 9-2.
Garver again came up to bat with the bases loaded, this time in the fifth. His grounder gave the opponent a double play, but still produced one more point.
Corey Seager became the first player to walk five times in a single playoff game, in addition to scoring twice.
Rangers players had 11 walks in the game, their 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 have seven walks after three innings, according to Sportradar.
Adolis Garcia drove in a run with his single and Jonah Heim added another with a single, one out later, to make it 5-2 and chase Rodriguez from the game.
Neither starter pitched until the fifth inning. Cody Bradford got the win in relief of Jordan Montgomery, who pitched for 3 2/3 innings.
Rodriguez had the loss on his record, allowing five runs, six hits and four walks.
Jorge Mateo finished his game with four hits, including two doubles for the Orioles.
Henderson’s home run in the fifth made it 10-5.