Joc Pederson finally gave Texas a run against Drew Rasmussen, and for a moment the veteran designated hitter looked like the answer to a quiet night at Globe Life Field.
Pederson's 409-foot solo home run to right in the sixth, his team-leading 25th of the season, cut Tampa Bay's lead to 2-1. It was the only Ranger run Rasmussen allowed across seven innings. Everything that followed, from Evan Carter's tying blast to Justin Foscue's double to Jonathan Aranda's three-run homer in the 10th, happened after Rasmussen handed the ball to the bullpen.
The Rays left Arlington with a 6-3 win in 10 innings.
ESPN's box matches Pederson at 1-for-3 with a run, an RBI, two strikeouts, and a .235/.328/.485 line. The RBI total sat at 50 after the swing. He was lifted later for Foscue, who delivered the tying double in the eighth.
Rasmussen's grip, then the late scramble
Junior Caminero had set the tone with an AL-leading 38th home run, 425 feet in the first off Jacob deGrom. Richard Palacios added a career-high eighth homer in the fifth. Against that early damage, Pederson's sixth-inning drive was Texas' first real pushback.
Rasmussen worked seven innings on three hits, one run, no walks, and seven strikeouts. deGrom lasted six, allowing four hits, two runs, one walk, seven strikeouts, and two home runs with a 3.96 ERA. The Associated Press noted deGrom's major-league-high 10 first-inning home runs this year and the split between a 9.00 ERA in those first innings and a 2.79 mark afterward.
When Kevin Kelly replaced Rasmussen, Carter led off the eighth with a 421-foot homer. Foscue's double scored Cody Cauley and tied it 3-3. Tyler Wells answered with two hitless innings and three strikeouts for the win (4-2).
