Josh H. Smith raced home on a wild pitch to send the Texas Rangers to a 3-2 walk-off victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday in Arlington, Texas.
With the game tied 2-2 going into the bottom of the ninth, Josh Jung roped a leadoff double to center off Rays reliever Pete Fairbanks. Smith then came on for Jung as a pinch runner. After Adolis Garcia struck out, Smith moved to third on a groundout by Nathaniel Lowe and scored when Fairbanks (0-3) uncorked a wild pitch during an at-bat against Mitch Garver.
That run gave Texas reliever Aroldis Chapman (5-2) the victory. Chapman, who earned his first save in a Rangers uniform on Saturday, struck out the side in a dominant top of the ninth. Chapman was acquired by the Rangers in a June 30 trade with the Royals.
Runs were difficult to come by early on.
Rays starter Shane McClanahan, who was activated from the 15-day injured list earlier Monday, impressed in his return. He faced the minimum through five shutout innings, only allowing Marcus Semien’s leadoff single in the first during that span. However, Semien was quickly erased when Corey Seager grounded into a double play.
But in the sixth, McClanahan ran into trouble. Rangers designated hitter Robbie Grossman led off with an infield single, and Ezequiel Duran belted a 1-2 fastball over the right-center field wall to tie the game at 2-2. It was Duran’s 13th home run of the season.
McClanahan retired the next three batters to end his night. He allowed two runs on three hits with no walks and six strikeouts over six innings.
The Rays had an early 2-0 lead, scoring single runs in the first and second off Rangers starter Dane Dunning. Randy Arozarena had a sacrifice fly in the first inning, and Josh Lowe belted a solo home run in the second.
Dunning settled in after that. He allowed just those two runs on five hits with one walk and four strikeouts over seven innings.
–Field Level Media
