ARLINGTON, Texas — Danny Jansen laughed while admitting he wasn’t eager to catch another inning in what had already been a busy game defensively.
Fortunately for Jansen, he didn’t need to after connecting on the game-winning hit that secured a 6-5 victory for the Texas Rangers over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday evening, following a wild ninth inning where both teams’ closers surrendered three runs each.
“I feel like the game had everything. Like passed balls, a couple of wild pitches, I mean, stolen bases, threw somebody out,” Jansen explained, noting he also had to block several pitches with baserunners. “A bit of everything, it was kind of a wild one. … Definitely a crazy finish.”
Texas had just evened the score and knocked out Paul Sewald (0-4), who had successfully converted his initial nine save opportunities, when the ninth-place hitter Jansen smacked an RBI single down the baseline into the left-field corner off the first pitch from Juan Morillo.
This followed a disappointing top half of the ninth for Texas, where Jacob Latz — their primary closer since midway through a run of 10 straight scoreless appearances — couldn’t record an out against four consecutive batters. His night ended after Nolan Arenado drove in a run with a double and Ildemaro Vargas connected on a two-run single to left field, putting Arizona ahead 5-3.
“Latz has been so good this year. He has given up next to no runs,” manager Skip Schumaker commented. “I pitched him two innings, day off, then back-to-back, and then running him out there, maybe not fair to him quite honestly.”
However, when the dust settled, Latz was grinning alongside his teammates after Texas secured consecutive series victories for the first time since their opening two series of the campaign.
“The boys picked him up in a big way,” Schumaker noted. “And that’s what good teams do, and good teammates do, is they pick each other up.”
The Rangers (21-22) have captured five of their past six contests heading into Thursday’s scheduled day off.
Arizona (20-22) erased a three-run deficit, eventually tying the contest before taking the lead in the ninth inning, giving their closer a two-run cushion despite stranding 13 baserunners.
Sewald retired two of the first three hitters in the ninth, beginning with a strikeout of slumping shortstop Corey Seager. Josh Jung managed a single between those outs and came home on Ezequiel Duran’s double before Alejandro Osuna drew a five-pitch walk and Jake Burger knotted the game with an RBI single that ended Sewald’s night.
“I felt like they were just on every pitch,” Sewald reflected. “It just felt like when I threw good pitchers, it didn’t matter.”
