Mark Mathias Walk-off Homer Lifts Rangers Past Athletics

The first baseman comes through with one of the biggest games of his career.

First baseman Mark Mathias’ walk-off home run to left field capped off a Texas Rangers rally from a five-run deficit to beat the Oakland Athletics 8-7 on Tuesday night at Globe Life Field.

The Rangers (62-80) had lost 13 of its last 16 games coming into the two-game series. The Athletics (51-91), meanwhile, had lost nine of their last 11. The Rangers have matched their win total from 2021.

The game featured a bounty of offense against a pair of pitchers that were seeking their first Major League win — Texas left-hander Cole Ragans and Oakland lefty Ken Waldichuk.

In fact, the Rangers had seven doubles and three home runs in the game, with Marcus Semien finished with three doubles and Mathias finishing with two home runs. Josh Jung had one of those doubles, and it gave him a Rangers franchise record. 

It was also a see-saw affair, with the Athletics building a big lead early before the Rangers came back to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh to basically reset the game heading into the eighth.

That tie came courtesy of the two-run home run by Mathias, who went 3-for-5 with four RBI and three runs scored.

Then, Mathais broke the tie with his first career walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth, as he continues to try and make a case to remain with the Rangers beyond this season. 

"I'm just trying to push the hand," Mathias said. "I want to be in there every day and just try to do my best and hopefully I'll be in their plans."

Tony Beasley, the Rangers' interim manager, doesn't know if he'll be in charge in 2023. But he's impressed. 

“I would think so,” Beasley said. “Next year is a ways off. But you can’t have enough good players and he’s (Mathias) given us a ton of quality at-bats. He definitely has my vote. You can trust his at-bats.”

Texas, down 7-2 after the top of the fifth, chipped away to knot it at 7-7. The Rangers scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth, with a Mathias RBI double scoring Semien and an Adolis García home run scoring Mathias to make it 7-5.

In the seventh Mathias struck again, this time with a homer to score Semien and tie the game, robbing Waldichuk of a chance for his first MLB win.

The Athletics jumped on Ragans early, with Dermis Garcia’s home run giving the Athletics a 3-0 lead. While the Rangers answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning — with RBI doubles by Adolis García and Josh Jung — Oakland started to pull away.

Jung's two-banger set another club record for Texas. The rookie is off to a roaring start to his career.

Oakland added three runs in the fourth, with Nick Allen’s RBI double and Cristian Pache’s two-run single. In the top of the fifth, the Athletics added one more run on Dermis Garcia’s RBI double. That put the Rangers down, 7-2.

Then, Texas rushed back into the game. 

“To show up today after tough travel and have fight and energy and to not quit and battle and compete … we just kept fighting and the bullpen did a nice job,” Beasley said. “Taylor (Hearn) and (Brock) Burke did a good job to put up zeroes and we kept getting big hits.”

Ragans lasted into the fifth inning but wasn’t able to record an out before giving way to Taylor Hearn. Ragans allowed eight hits, seven runs and a walk while striking out five. But Hearn was a clear upgrade, as he threw three innings of scoreless relief, giving up only the inherited runner. Brock Burke (7-3) came in for the final two games and threw two scoreless innings to get the win. 

The Rangers conclude the series on Wednesday with a 7:05 game against the Athletics. Dane Dunning is set to start for the Rangers. After taking Thursday off, the Rangers play a three-game set at the Tampa Bay Rays starting Friday. Texas returns to Globe Life Field for a three-game series with the Los Angeles Angels starting Tuesday.

---

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook and Twitter.