Corey Seager and Adolis Garcia came to the rescue, hitting late-game home runs to lead the Rangers to a come-from-behind 6-5 win over the Diamondbacks in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night in Arlington.
Here are three takeaways from the win:
Corey Seager and Adolis Garcia power the Rangers to Game 1 win
The Rangers were down to their final two outs. After Leody Taveras walked in the bottom of the ninth with Texas down 5-3, D-backs closer Paul Sewald struck out Marcus Semien, bringing up Corey Seager. The Rangers' star needed just one pitch to tie the game, as he demolished a fastball into the right field seats, sending Globe Life Field into a frenzy.
And then it was Garcia's turn... The ALCS MVP came to the plate in the 11th with one out and nobody on and hit Miguel Castro's 3-1 sinker the opposite way for a walk-off home run, leading to an even bigger eruption from the sold-out home crowd.
Garcia has now homered in five straight postseason games, and he now holds the MLB record for most RBI in a single postseason with 22, breaking the previous record held by former Cardinal David Freese, who had 21 RBI in the 2011 postseason.
Eovaldi has uncharacteristic postseason start
Nathan Eovaldi has been spectacular this postseason, and it appeared as if he was on his way to pitching another gem on Friday night, mowing down the first six Diamondback hitters. But he ran into trouble starting in third inning and could never regain the dominant form he's shown throughout his postseason career.
Eovaldi struck out 8, but allowed five runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings. It was the first time this postseason he hasn't recorded a quality start. In his previous four starts this postseason, the right-hander had a 2.42 ERA
Big Game Nate will look to rebound in a potential Game 5 in the desert.
Rangers' bullpen picks up Eovaldi
Eovaldi has saved the bullpen throughout the postseason, and on Friday night, they did the saving.
Dane Dunning, Cody Bradford, Jon Gray, Will Smith and Jose Leclerc combined to throw 6 1/3 scoreless innings, keeping the game within reach to allow the home run heroics to take place.