World Series 2023: Texas Rangers beat Arizona Diamondbacks 6-5 after walk-off homer in 11th inning
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World Series 2023: Garcia's home run seals opening win for Rangers
Adolis Garcia's walk-off home run helped the Texas Rangers battle back to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-5 after 11 innings in the opening game of the best-of-seven World Series.
The Rangers were trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning when Corey Seager's two-run homer for the hosts took the game to extra innings.
Garcia then lifted reliever Miguel Castro over the right-field fence.
Game two takes place on Saturday evening, in Texas once more.
Friday's win at Globe Life Field continues a sequence in which the Rangers, American League champions, have won all eight postseason games in which they have scored first.
Earlier, Evan Carter had got them on the scoreboard in the first inning with an RBI double allowing Seager to score, before being driven in himself by Garcia.
Corbin Carroll swung the game back in Arizona's favour in the third with a two-run triple before he slid home to put the visitors 3-2 up.
In a topsy-turvy game, the Rangers rallied with two outs in the bottom of the third as another Carter double put the pressure on Diamondbacks starting pitcher Zac Gallen, who loaded the bases before walking in a run.
Garcia's total of 22 runs batted in during the 2023 play-offs is a record for a single postseason campaign
Back came the D-backs, with Tommy Pham's homer immediately restoring their one-run lead, before Ketel Marte extended his postseason hitting streak to 17 games when he drove in Geraldo Perdomo.
That made it 5-3 in the fifth, but the score remained the same until Seager's dramatic ninth-inning shot.
Tantalisingly, the Rangers then twice put the potential winning run on second base before Garcia, named as most valuable player in the AL Championship Series win over the Houston Astros, sent the Texas crowd wild.
While a recent rule change puts a "ghost runner", external on second base at the start of each extra inning during regular-season games, it does not apply in the play-offs - although it ultimately made no difference as Rangers closer Jose Leclerc threw two hitless innings to collect the win in relief.
World Series schedule (home team listed first) | |
|---|---|
Game 1: Texas 6-5 Arizona | Game 5* (Arizona): Wed 1 Nov |
Game 2 (Texas): Sat 28 Oct | Game 6* (Texas): Fri 3 Nov |
Game 3 (Arizona): Mon 30 Oct | Game 7* (Texas): Sat 4 Nov |
Game 4 (Arizona): Tue 31 Oct | *if required |
All games start 8pm Eastern Time (early next morning UK time) | (01:00 BST Game 2, 00:00 GMT Games 3-7) |
The Rangers were down to their last two outs in the bottom of the ninth when Corey Seager's homer forced extra innings
Second baseman Ketel Marte extended his postseason hitting streak to 17 games for the Diamondbacks, but their bats fell silent after the fifth inning
Ex-Rangers owner and former US President George W Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch - as he had done in New York in 2001, weeks after the 9/11 terror attacks - assisted by Hall of Fame catcher Ivan 'Pudge' Rodriguez