Corey Seager's night was measured in trips around the bases more than in the hit column alone.
He doubled twice, walked once, scored three times, and lifted a sacrifice fly in the sixth as the Texas Rangers beat the Athletics 8-5 on Tuesday at Globe Life Field. The Associated Press led with Brandon Nimmo's season highs and noted that Seager scored three times. ESPN's box lists Seager 2-for-3 with two doubles, three runs, one RBI, one walk, and one strikeout.
Texas improved to 69-70 and sits one game behind Houston in the AL West after the Astros lost to the White Sox. Oakland dropped to 53-86.
Table-setter, not cleanup
Seager doubled to right in the first and scored on Nimmo's double to left. He doubled again in the third - the hit that ended Brady Basso's night with one out - and scored on Nimmo's single to right. In the fifth he walked with Pederson already on first; both scored on Nimmo's two-run single.
In the sixth, after Evan Carter and Elias Díaz set up the inning, Seager's sacrifice fly to left scored Díaz for a 7-1 lead.
CBS Sports' batting line matches ESPN on the doubles (his 14th of the season on both boards), the walk, and the sacrifice fly. He left no runners in scoring position himself; the damage came from being on base when Nimmo and the middle of the order delivered. Nimmo finished 4-for-5 with five RBIs, season highs the AP highlighted in the same recap.
Why the third and fifth mattered for the standing
Texas led 2-1 after three and broke it open with three in the fifth and three in the sixth. Seager was on base for four of those six runs - three scored, plus the walk that started the fifth-inning cascade. MacKenzie Gore protected the early edge: 5 1/3 innings, five hits, one earned run, four walks, four strikeouts on 95 pitches.
Chase Silseth and Adam Macko bridged to Trevor Williams; Jacob Latz closed with two strikeouts for save No. 28 after Jeff McNeil's two-run ninth-inning homer, measured at 392 feet by ESPN, cut the lead to three.
The Athletics stranded 14 and left the bases loaded twice. Ezequiel Durán's diving stop on Henry Bolte in the fourth kept a one-run lead intact, the AP said. Athletics first baseman Tommy White left with low back soreness after his first swing in the second.
