Texas Rangers celebrate first World Series crown
Nathan Eovaldi pitched six gutsy innings, Mitch Garver broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the seventh and the Texas Rangers are baseball's World Series champions for the first time in their 63-year franchise history after beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 in Game 5 on Wednesday night. Marcus Semien homered late and the Rangers, held hitless for six innings by Zac Gallen, finished a record 11-0 on the road this postseason by capping the Fall Classic with three straight wins in the desert. One night after Texas took a 10-run lead by the third in a Game 4 snoozer, it finished the Series by outlasting the Diamondbacks in a white-knuckle pitchers' duel through eight innings, piling on four runs in the ninth for good measure. Gallen took a no-hitter into the seventh before giving up an opposite-field single to Corey Seager, whose weak grounder found a hole. Rangers rookie Evan Carter – all of 21 years old – followed with a double into the right-centre gap.  Garver then delivered the first run, pumping his fist as a hard-hit grounder got through the middle of the infield to score Seager and make it 1-0. Garver was 1 for 17 at the plate in the World Series before his huge hit. The Rangers tacked on four more runs in the ninth to break open the game.  Semien’s two-run homer off Paul Sewald made it 5-0. The outburst was typical of the Texas offence, which scored at least three runs in an inning 13 times this postseason. Eovaldi pitched out of trouble all night before Aroldis Chapman and Josh Sborz finished it. “I kind of joked around: I don’t know how many rabbits I have in my hat,” said Eovaldi, who improved to 5-0 this postseason. “I didn’t really do a great job tonight in attacking the zone. But our defence, incredible again.” Seager was voted the World Series Most Valuable Player, joining Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson as the only two-time Series MVPs with his trio of two-run homers against the Diamondbacks and six RBIs in all. He finished his postseason with a .318 average, six doubles, six homers, 15 walks and 12 RBIs in 17 games. His career is in Mr. October territory: Seager has 19 homers and 48 RBIs in 78 postseason games, while Jackson had 18 homers and 48 RBIs in 78 games. “Obviously that’s pretty special to be compared to a guy like that,” Seager said. It’s the first title for the Rangers, whose history dates back to 1961 when they were the expansion Washington Senators. They moved to Texas for the 1972 season and came agonisingly close to a World Series championship in 2011, needing just one strike on two occasions before eventually falling to the St. Louis Cardinals. Now, after five stadiums, roughly two dozen managers and 10,033 games, the Rangers are champions. It wasn’t easy. Texas led the AL West for a big chunk of the season, but coughed up the division title on the final day of the regular season to rival Houston. The Rangers also weathered injuries to key pieces, particularly ace pitcher Jacob deGrom. That loss in the regular-season finale at Seattle left the Rangers with the No. 5 seed in the AL playoffs and it sent them across the country to open the playoffs at Tampa Bay, part of two-week trip that took them to four cities – two on each coast. Then Texas got its revenge against Houston, winning a hard-fought series in seven games that brought them to the World Series. Finally, the Rangers had to get past the Diamondbacks, who won just 84 games during the regular season but beat the Brewers, Dodgers and Phillies in a remarkable postseason run that finally fizzled. Texas manager Bruce Bochy won his fourth title 13 years to the day after his first, which came in 2010 when the San Francisco Giants beat the Rangers he now leads. He also won titles with the Giants in 2012 and 2014. Bochy is the sixth manager to win four titles, joining Casey Stengel (seven), Joe McCarthy (seven), Connie Mack (five), Walter Alston (four) and Joe Torre (four). All of them are in the Hall of Fame and when Bochy’s career is over, it seems a given that his name will be immortalised in Cooperstown as well. The Rangers have been on track for this moment since December 1, 2021, when they committed more than a half billion US dollars to sign Semien, Seager and pitcher Jon Gray, who delivered a crucial three-inning relief performance in Game 3.  Big spending doesn’t always lead to titles – just ask the Mets and Padres – but for the Rangers, it worked. (AP)