Texas Rangers Take Pivotal World Series Game 3 Over Arizona Diamondbacks

The Texas Rangers got another Corey Seager home run and their bullpen came up huge after starter Max Scherzer left early with an injury to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 3.

PHOENIX — The Texas Rangers rode their bullpen hard again and it paid off big time.

The Rangers escaped with a pivotal 3-1 World Series Game 3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night at Chase Field.

The Rangers have a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is set for 7:03 p.m. (CT) Tuesday in Phoenix.

The Rangers have won nine consecutive road games in the postseason, tying a record last set by the 1996-97 New York Yankees.

Jon Gray pitched three scoreless innings of one-hit relief in an emergency role behind starter Max Scherzer, and Josh Sborz followed with a scoreless inning before Aroldis Chapman pitched the eighth.

Chapman, who has been shaky in the postseason, was greeted with a leadoff double to right field by pinch-hitter Emmanuel Rivera. Geraldo Perdomo's RBI single scored Rivera to pull the D-Backs to within 3-1.

Jose Leclerc pitched a perfect ninth to earn the save. The Rangers bullpen held the D-backs to one run over the final six innings.

Chapman regrouped, however, and froze Corbin Carroll with an 89.4 mph slider in the heart of the strike zone for the first out. Ketel Marte grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

The Rangers scored three times against Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt in the third to take a 3-0 lead. Nathaniel Lowe led off with a double to the right-center gap and scored on Marcus Semien's two-out single. Corey Seager homered on a first-pitch, 86.7 mph changeup to make it 3-0. Seager hit his homer 421 with an exit velocity of 114.5 mph.

“Just battled. He’s been hot,” Semien said of Pfaadt. “We’ve been watching him all playoffs do what he’s done. We had to come through in big situations. We got to Two outs and we were able to score. That’s huge for us. That’s what we need to do in big situations in the biggest games of our lives.”

In the bottom of the second, Texas' defense came up huge. After Christian Walker led off the inning with a double, Adolis Garcia threw him out at home trying to score on Tommy Pham's single. Walker was given the stop sign at third base but he blew right past it and was thrown out easily by Garcia. 

Adolis Garcia keeps the game scoreless with this incredible throw!

We rated him with the strongest arm in right field this season. pic.twitter.com/0qFvh8qaQt

— Inside Edge (@IE_MLB) October 31, 2023

With Pham on second, Scherzer got Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to pop out for the second. Third baseman Josh Jung finished the inning with another spectacular defensive play. Alek Thomas' hard shot up the middle ricocheted off of Scherzer's elbow and backside before Jung scooped it up with his bare hand and threw a strike to first.

Scherzer left after three scoreless innings with back tightness before Gray took over. Gray struck out three and walked none. Garcia left the game late with left-side tightness. 

Put a star on this play. 🤯 #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/P2mCwnGMCz

— MLB (@MLB) October 31, 2023

World Series Game 3: Rangers 3, Diamondbacks 1

Here are the key takeaways from Monday's Game 3 at Chase Field:

Seager Postseason Record

Corey Seager's 18th career postseason in the third inning Monday moves him into a tie for second all-time for postseason homers by a shortstop. Yankees legend Derek Jeter holds the record with 20. Seager is tied with Carlos Correa.

Seager's five World Series homers are the most by a shortstop. He's two ahead of Jeter and Correa, who had three.

Game 3 Win Bodes Well For Texas

Teams who win Game 3 eventually win the World Series 63.6% of the time. That's 75 times in 118 Fall Classics, including 12 of the last 23 years.

Rookie Duo Record

Josh Jung and Evan Carter are the first pair of rookie teammates to collect 15 or more hits in the same single postseason. Jung has 16 hits; Carter 15 hits. They're the 16th and 17th rookies with 15 or more hits in a single postseason.

Up Close

The Rangers will likely go with a bullpen game Tuesday in Game 4. The Diamondbacks hadn't announced their Game 4 starter either. The game is at 7:03 p.m. (CT).

Missed Classic!

You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.

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