Evan Carter hit an inside-the-park home run and Jacob deGrom threw a gem as the Texas Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-1 in the rubber match of a three-game set in Arlington, Texas, on Thursday night.
deGrom (2-0) had a season-high 10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings, allowing just one run.
With Josh Jung on first and two out in the third inning, Carter hit a deep fly ball to right field that bounced hard off the wall in front of the Rangers’ bullpen and bounded into the middle of the outfield. By the time center fielder Oneil Cruz tracked the ball down, Jung was crossing home plate and Carter slid in ahead of the relay throw for his first career inside-the-park homer.
Furthering the drama, the inside-the-parker came after the Pirates starter Bubba Chandler (1-2) had successfully used the ABS challenge system to overturn a called ball four and extend the at-bat.
One inning later, Corey Seager’s three-run shot off Chandler broke the game open, doubling the Rangers’ 3-0 advantage with one swing. The rally began with back-to-back walks by Josh Smith and Alejandro Osuna to lead off the inning. Joc Pederson’s one-out RBI single brought home Smith and set the table for Seager’s sixth home run of 2026.
Chandler exited after the fourth, giving up six runs, seven hits and three walks.
Cruz responded for Pittsburgh in the fifth, hitting a two-out solo shot to snap deGrom’s shutout. He also went deep in the Pirates’ 8-4 win on Wednesday.
In the sixth, the Pirates chased deGrom and loaded the bases with two out, but Jung laid out at third base to force a groundout that robbed Konnor Griffin of a potential extra-base hit and multiple RBIs.
Both bullpens pitched shutouts to close out the game, with Gavin Collyer, Jalen Beeks, Jakob Junis and Peyton Gray (making his Major League debut) combining for 4 1/3 scoreless innings to seal the victory for Texas.
