In a crucial game, the Texas Rangers managed to pull off a 4-3 victory against the Chicago White Sox by staging a comeback in the bottom of the ninth and 10th innings on Monday night at Globe Life Field.
Rookie Wyatt Langford played a pivotal role, driving in the winning run with a two-out, bases-loaded single that hit the base of the left-field wall in the 10th inning.
Langford’s game-winning hit, which clocked at 109.2 mph, came off a 2-2 sweeper from White Sox right-hander Steven Wilson. To set up Langford’s opportunity, the White Sox intentionally walked Corey Seager and Josh Smith to load the bases. Travis Jankowski, who pinch-ran for Justin Foscue as the ghost runner, advanced to third on Leody Taveras’s sacrifice bunt. Marcus Semien struck out on a foul tip before Seager and Smith were intentionally walked.
In the ninth inning, Langford hit a one-out double, stole third base, and then scored on Jonah Heim’s two-out single up the middle, tying the game.
The White Sox, who hold the worst record in MLB, have now lost eight consecutive games. Their 27-75 record marks only the 12th instance of a team losing 75 games in the first 102 games of the season, the first since the 1979 Oakland Athletics.
Despite this, Chicago was leading 3-2 after Paul DeJong’s solo homer off Rangers’ All-Star closer Kirby Yates in the top of the ninth.
Michael Lorenzen managed to escape trouble in each of the first five innings, leaving the game tied 2-2 after five innings.
Tommy Pham’s first-inning homer gave Chicago a 1-0 lead. Semien’s solo homer in the third tied the game at 1-1. The White Sox took a 2-1 lead with a run in the fourth, but Taveras tied it again with a solo homer in the fifth.
The score remained tied until the ninth.
Lorenzen was charged with two runs on six hits and two walks, striking out eight in five innings. Jose Leclerc struck out four in two scoreless innings of relief.
Corey Seager extended his on-base streak to 22 games when he was intentionally walked in the 10th inning. Seager leads MLB with 10 intentional walks in 2024. He was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts before the game went into extra innings. This streak is the longest active one in MLB and his second-longest of the season; he had a 30-game on-base streak from May 3 to June 14.
2. Bruce Bochy EjectionRangers manager Bruce Bochy was ejected in the top of the 5th inning by home plate umpire Edwin Moscoso. It is assumed that Bochy was arguing that the batter had foul-tipped the previous pitch, which catcher Jonah Heim mishandled while trying to grab the ball from his glove, allowing Luis Robert Jr. to steal second base. This marks Bochy’s fourth ejection this season and the 85th of his career, ranking him seventh in MLB history for most ejections.