Rangers Give Up Three Home Runs, Drop Home Opener 5-3 to Reds
· Yahoo Sports
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Texas Rangers Baseball was officially back at Globe Life Field on Friday afternoon as the team welcomed the Cincinnati Reds to Arlington.
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The Rangers rallied back from a pair of deficits in the game but still fell short, dropping their first game in the Metroplex in 2026, 5-3.
In the ninth inning in a 3-3 tie, Chris Martin allowed what ended up being a game-winning, two-run home run off the bat of Tyler Stephenson.
“[It was a really good at-bat by Stephenson,” first-year Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said after the game.
“He [Stephenson] got it in the air and hit a home run, just a really good professional at-bat right there, just a tough way to lose obviously in the ninth inning of the home opener, but we’ll be alright,” Schumaker finished.
MacKenzie Gore got the start for Texas, making his Rangers home debut in the team’s first game at Globe Life Field this season.
Despite allowing a pair of home runs, Gore turned in a solid performance, going six innings, allowing six hits and three runs while not walking a single batter and striking out nine.
“I think you just want two pitches back,” Gore said after the game. “I thought we attacked guys, command was good but not great, I thought Danny [Jansen] did a good job but just want those two pitches back.”
Gore retired the first four Reds he saw, striking out two of them with really sharp movement on his pitches.
Unfortunately for Gore, after a single from Eugenio Suarez, Reds left fielder Spencer Steer drove a cutter into the left field seats to make it 2-0 Cincinnati.
In the sixth, Gore was the latest victim of Elly De La Cruz as the Reds superstar shortstop smashed a 107-MPH line drive into the left-field seats in what ended up as Gore’s final inning.
It didn’t take the Rangers long to strike back after the Reds took their initial lead. In the very next half inning, Texas got three straight two-out hits in the second to knot the game at 2-2.
Josh Jung led off the rally with a single before Evan Carter laced a double down the right-field line. Danny Jansen came through with the big swing of the inning, a two-RBI double in his first home game as a Ranger.
Trailing by one in the seventh, Brandon Nimmo laced a triple down the right-field line, and the very next batter was Wyatt Langford, who came through with an RBI double to tie things up at 3-3.
Unfortunately for the Rangers, that would be the last run they were able to muster across on the afternoon.
Texas will be back in action on Saturday night for Game Two of their home opening series against the Reds at Globe Life Field. Kumar Rocker will make his season debut, and first pitch is scheduled for 6:05 PM CST.
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