Marcus Semien belted his 199th career home run, Corey Seager also went deep and the Texas Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3 in a battle of division leaders on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas
The Rangers, who have captured the first two contests of the three-game series, stretched their winning streak to five games. The Rays took their third loss in a row
It was a pitchers' duel most of the night. Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi (11-3) threw six shutout innings to earn the win. Rays starter Taj Bradley (5-6) allowed two runs over five-plus innings while striking out nine
Semien finished with three hits, while teammate Travis Jankowski went 2-for-4 with an RBI double.
Randy Arozarena (2-for-4) and Brandon Lowe homered for the Rays
Texas jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a home run by Semien. The second baseman sent a first-pitch fastball into the left-center-field seats.
The Rangers doubled the lead in the sixth. The first two batters reached, which ended Bradley's night, and then Jankowski delivered a two-out RBI double off Robert Stephenson
The Rays pulled to within 2-1 in the seventh when Francisco Mejia hit a one-out RBI double off Jose Leclerc
Tampa Bay had a chance to do more damage in the inning when Yandy Diaz drew a walk, ending Leclerc's night. However, Rangers reliever Grant Anderson ended the threat by getting Wander Franco to bounce into an inning-ending, 4-6-3 double play. The Rangers narrowly got Franco out at first base as the play was upheld after the Rays challenged it
Both teams found their power stroke in the late innings.
Seager cushioned the Rangers' lead to 5-1 with a three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh off Javy Guerra. Seager had gone 0-for-3 with three strikeouts in his three at-bats against Bradley
Tampa Bay got solo shots from Arozarena and Lowe to pull within 5-3 in the eighth, but that was as close as the visitors would get.
Rangers left-hander Will Smith closed it out with a 1-2-3 ninth for his 17th save of the season
--Field Level Media