Nathan Eovaldi took to the mound with courage burning in his eyes, hurling pitch after pitch for six labouring innings. The fray remained scoreless until the seventh, when Mitch Garver penetrated the silence with an RBI single, carving the first notch in the scoreboard. This signalled an epoch-making moment for the Texas Rangers–for the first time in their hard-earned 63-year franchise history, they emerged as World Series champions, outclassing the Arizona Diamondbacks with a dazzling shutout in the fifth game on Wednesday night.
Marcus Semien flexed his prowess with a late homerun. Despite being checkmated for six innings by the unshakeable Zac Gallen, the Rangers epitomized resilience and triumph. They wrapped up a record-setting postseason with 11-0 on the road, scoring a hat trick of victories in the searing desert in the Fall Classic.
The previous night, the Rangers had storm-rolled over the opponents, hoarding a 10-run lead by the third in a game 4 encounter that was as riveting as a snore. Nonetheless, they rebounded with remarkable tenacity in the Series final, outpacing the Diamondbacks in an adrenaline-charged standoff of pitchers through eight staunch innings. As a cherry atop their victory, they plated four more runs in the ninth.
Gallen’s march towards a no-hitter was thwarted in the seventh when Corey Seager eked out an opposite-field single, his feeble grounder miraculously slipping through the chinks. Right on his heels, the Rangers’ greenhorn Evan Carter– all of 21 years, doubled into the right-center gap. Garver then hammered home the first run, his jubilant fist pumping the air as his hard-hit grounder slipped through the infield to net Seager, edging the score to 1-0.
Garver, who had thus far been languishing with 1 for 17 at the plate in the World Series, finally tasted sweet success with his monumental hit. The Rangers’ offensive onslaught continued unabated into the ninth when they padded four more runs to the tally. Semien’s two-run homer off Paul Sewald swelled the score to a staggering 5-0. This outburst came as no surprise, given the Texas offense had an impressive tendency to amass at least three runs in an inning thirteen times over the postseason.
