Corey Seager and Leody Tavares each drove in two runs, leading the Texas Rangers to a 5-3 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Friday night. The Guardians lost their third game in a row and saw their lead in the AL Central shrink to just one game.
Adolis García added an RBI double for Texas, which has won four of its last five games.
Although the Rangers might be too far behind to make a playoff run, they still have the talent to impact the standings as spoilers.
“We haven’t really been playing comfortable all season,” said Nathan Eovaldi (9-7), who limited the Guardians to three runs in six innings. “Regardless of where we are in the standings, it’s go out there and win.
“We know what we’re capable of doing, we’ve just got to go out there and do it.”
Cleveland returned from a 1-5 road trip to start a crucial 10-game homestand. With Kansas City’s win over Philadelphia, the Guardians’ lead has dropped to one game, the closest it has been since May 13.
The Guardians will begin a four-game series against the Royals on Monday.
Cleveland’s first-year manager Stephen Vogt has advised his players to stick to their routine and feels no need to change his approach just yet.
“I’ll know when it’s the right time,” he said. “We’re not there yet. I thought we showed a lot of signs tonight of being ourselves. They scored more runs than we did.”
Eovaldi was taken out after throwing a season-high 106 pitches, and Rangers manager Bruce Bochy brought in the bullpen. David Robertson walked two batters in the eighth inning before striking out Lane Thomas, with a pitch that was far off the plate.
The strikeout was Robertson’s 1,135th, tying him with Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera for 12th most strikeouts by a reliever in history.
