Angels Surge Ahead in Sixth, Beat Rangers

Los Angeles opened the three-game set by beating Texas with a tie-breaking sixth inning.

The Los Angeles Angels limited Texas to five hits as they beat the Rangers 5-2 on Tuesday night at Globe Life Field.

The Rangers (63-84) started the game with an RBI double from shortstop Corey Seager, which brought home Marcus Semien, who led off the bottom of the first for a walk. But, after that, the Rangers were unable to sustain much offense against starter Patrick Sandoval and the Angels bullpen.

In fact, Sandoval (6-9) went on lock-down after that, giving up just three hits in five solid innings. He did give up four walks, but he also struck out seven. The only other run he allowed was in the fifth, as Rangers left fielder Bubba Thompson bunted onto first base and scored from there on Semien’s double.

In the top of the sixth the Angels broke the game open off Rangers relievers Dennis Santana (3-8) and John King. Shohei Ohtani led off with a single off Santana, followed by Taylor Ward’s double to left, which scored Ohtani to break a 2-2 tie. Angels third baseman Matt Duffy singled to move Ward to third and that ended Santana’s night.

But King couldn’t get the Rangers out of the jam. Ford hit a chopper over the head of Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, which scored Ward and moved Duffy to third. Then, Jo Adell hit a seeing-eye ground ball between Seager and Semien in the shift, which scored Duffy to make it 5-2.

The Rangers only got out of the inning because rookie third baseman Josh Jung started the Rangers’ second triple play of the season on a ground ball by Angels catcher Max Stassi.

Despite leaving with two outs in the fifth, Tuesday would qualify as one of Rangers starter Cole Ragans’ better outings since being called up in August. He gave up seven hits, two runs and no walks while striking out five.

The only runs he allowed came in the second inning when he gave up a two-run home run to Duffy.

The Rangers continue the series on Wednesday night with Dane Dunning set to start against the Angels’ Tucker Davidson. Thursday’s finale will feature the Rangers’ Martín Pérez and the Angels’ Michael Lorenzen on the mound.

The Rangers then host Cleveland starting Friday, with Sunday serving as a day to honor Tom Grieve, the Rangers Hall of Famer who is ending his 55-year career with the organization as a player, team executive and television analyst this season.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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