Corey Seager Does It All For Rangers In Game 3 Win

The headline says it all.

In the top of the third inning of World SeriesGame 3, Corey Seager took a first pitch changeup from Diamondbacks starter Brandon Pfaadt and smacked it 114.5 mph over the right field wall to extend the Rangers’ lead from 1-0 to 3-0.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Corey Seager ranged to his left, slid, grabbed the ball and shoveled it to Marcus Semien to start a miraculous 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. That was a critical play in the game, as the Diamondbacks had already scored one off Rangers reliever Aroldis Chapman and were rallying for more. If Ketel Marte’s grounder gets past Seager, the Diamondbacks have runners on the corners with one out and Chapman on the ropes.

Those two plays—Seager’s home run and the inning-ending double play—proved to be the difference in the game, as the Rangers beat the Diamondbacks 3-1. Texas now leads the best-of-seven series two games to one lead.

The headline doesn’t tell the full story, though.

Before Seager’s home run and well before his spectacular double play, Rangers right fielder Adolis Garcia teamed up with catcher Jonah Heim to nail Christian Walker at the plate. It was the top of the second inning. Walker doubled off Max Scherzer to start the inning and Tommy Pham followed with a hard-hit single to right field. Garcia (or as my good friend and subscriber Drew calls him—Gar-See-Ya) fired a laser to Heim, who tagged Walker out before he reached home plate. That kept the game tied a 0-0.

Just two batters later, Rangers third baseman Josh Jung made his own brilliant defensive play on a ball off the bat of Alek Thomas that ricocheted off Scherzer’s back.

Alfonso Marquez played a significant role in the game, too. No, that’s not a bench player you’ve never head of. Marquez was the home plate umpire. He’s known for calling a tight strike zone. The players know that. The coaches know that. The problem in Game 3 was that Marquez called an inconsistent strike zone that appeared to favor the Rangers.

Look at the seventh pitch to Nathaniel Lowe in this sequence. It’s called a ball and Lowe walks. Under any definition of the strike zone, that is not a ball.

And what is going on in this Gabby Moreno at-bat to lead off the ninth inning with the D’Backs down only two runs?

The Diamondbacks were apoplectic about the strike called on pitch five, although it looks here like it was Marquez doing a make-up call for calling pitch two a ball when it should have been a strike. There were lot of bad pitch calls like this throughout the game, which you hate to see. Nobody wants an erratic strike zone.

And nobody wants to see injuries affect the outcome of the World Series.

After getting hit on that Alek Thomas line drive that Josh Jung turned into an out, Scherzer came out of the game after complaining of back tightness. He only pitched three innings. Adolis Garcia also came out of the game after tweaking his oblique on a swing in the top of the seventh. The Rangers can ill afford to lose Garcia, who’s home runs have powered the Rangers’ romp through the postseason.

With Scherzer leaving after three, Jon Gray came into and pitched innings 4, 5 & 6. As he did in Game 1, Gray kept the Diamondbacks off the board. He allowed just one hit.

The big question for Game 4 is whether Gray will be available out of the bullpen for an inning or two. Both teams will throw full-on bullpen games. The Rangers are starting Andrew Heaney. The D’Backs are going with Joe Mantiply.

Game 4 will start at 8:00 pm EDT/5:00 pm PDT on Fox.