Dustin May took the ball Sunday four days after a 106-mph comebacker bruised his right scapula, and the Texas Rangers still left American Family Field with a 7-4 win after Joc Pederson's sixth-inning homer stretched a two-run lead to three.
The Associated Press said May left his previous start against the New York Mets after one pitch when A.J. Ewing's liner hit him in the upper back. He lasted 4.1 innings this time and took the loss, falling to 6-9. ESPN's pitching line: six hits, four earned runs, four strikeouts, three walks.
Pederson's solo shot off Grant Anderson in the sixth made it 5-2. ESPN measured the ball at 380 feet to right. CBS Sports lists it as Pederson's 24th home run of the season; the AP recap described the swing without a season total. Texas snapped a four-game skid. Milwaukee's four-game winning streak ended. The Rangers are 67-70. The Brewers are 85-52.
Insurance after May left the game
May had already been charged with the runs that put Texas in front. Ezequiel Durán's two-out solo homer in the third tied the game at 2-2, a 410-foot drive to left-center on ESPN's scoring, and his ground-rule double in the fifth scored Wyatt Langford and Corey Seager. Both hits came off May, the AP noted.
Pederson's homer was the swing that first stretched Texas' lead past two runs. It came after May had exited, against Anderson, and it gave the Rangers a three-run cushion heading into the late innings. The second-inning run, Díaz doubling home Freeman, had come before Texas led.
Jake Burger and Cody Freeman then added RBI singles in the seventh. Burger's infield single scored Brandon Nimmo. Freeman's single scored Durán.
ESPN's scoring plays put Texas up 7-2.
Sánchez's 200th, then the door closes
Gary Sánchez answered immediately, a two-run homer off Jordan Montgomery that scored Jackson Chourio and cut the lead to 7-4. The AP flagged it as Sánchez's 200th career home run. ESPN put the ball at 386 feet to center. Milwaukee did not get another runner across.
