ARLINGTON, Texas — Wyatt Langford delivered the big swing, Nathan Eovaldi turned in another steady outing, and the Texas Rangers held off the San Diego Padres for a 4-3 victory Sunday afternoon at Globe Life Field.
The win secured the series for Texas and improved the club to 11-10 in one-run games this season. It also marked a strong finish to a difficult homestand, as the Rangers salvaged the final series after being swept by Minnesota earlier in the week.
Texas improved to 23-1 this season when scoring first and putting at least four runs on the board, continuing one of the most reliable winning formulas in Major League Baseball.
Langford provided the early fireworks in the third inning. After Texas loaded the bases, the young outfielder turned on a pitch and tucked a three-run homer just inside the left-field foul pole, giving the Rangers a 3-0 advantage.
The home run continued a torrid stretch for Langford, who has been one of Texas’ hottest hitters since returning from the injured list earlier this month. Five of his six home runs this season have come during that span.
San Diego answered immediately.
The Padres sent nine batters to the plate in the fourth inning and erased the deficit with three runs. Sung-Mun Song sparked the rally with an RBI double that rattled off the base of the right-field wall, while Xander Bogaerts and Gavin Sheets each added run-scoring singles to tie the game at 3-3.
Texas regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning.
Josh Jung, who entered the day without an RBI in his previous nine games, lined a run-scoring single to center field to plate the eventual winning run and put the Rangers back in front 4-3.
Jung finished 2-for-3 with a walk and extended his multi-hit streak to four games. He now leads Texas with 26 multi-hit performances this season.
Eovaldi (7-7) earned the victory after working six innings. The veteran right-hander allowed seven hits and three earned runs while striking out a season-high nine batters and walking just one.
After cruising through the first three innings, including a dominant third inning in which he struck out the side, Eovaldi encountered trouble in San Diego’s three-run fourth but settled down to complete his eighth quality start of the year.
The Rangers bullpen took over from there and protected the one-run lead. The trio of relievers combined for three scoreless innings, allowing only two hits while striking out three to close out the victory.
Jake Burger added two hits for Texas and extended his hitting streak to eight games. Nicky Lopez also contributed a pair of hits as the Rangers collected nine hits overall.
San Diego used left-hander Wandy Peralta as an opener before turning the game over to Lucas Giolito (0-3), who absorbed the loss. Giolito allowed four runs on seven hits across four innings of relief work.
Bogaerts finished with two hits for the Padres, while Song and Sheets each drove in a run during the fourth-inning rally.
The Rangers now head out on a 10-game road trip that will take them through Miami, Toronto, and Cleveland. Texas enters the trip with an 8-4 record in rubber games this season, including a 5-1 mark at home.
Final: Rangers 4, Padres 3.
