ARLINGTON, Texas — Corey Seager hit an opposite-field home run off Andrew Alvarez in the third inning Thursday night, and it accounted for the first of 2 runs in a Texas Rangers win over the Washington Nationals.
Seager finished 2-for-4 with a double. It was his fourth straight multi-hit game.
Jacob deGrom had a really cool night, Seager said, and one the Rangers had been waiting on for a couple of starts.
“We’re going to need him going down the stretch,” Seager said. “And he was tonight. His heater was really good. He was pretty special tonight.”
deGrom struck out 10 over 6 scoreless innings and reached 2,000 career strikeouts. Seager is one of the current Texas teammates deGrom has struck out during his career.
How The Texas Rangers Scored
Ezequiel Duran tripled in the eighth and scored on Nicky Lopez‘s sacrifice fly for the second run. Duran walked twice and went 2-for-4. Justin Foscue went 2-for-2 with a double.
Alvarez worked 5 innings for Washington and gave up 4 hits, 1 earned run, and 3 walks with 5 strikeouts. He fell to 2-5.
Texas collected 6 hits and went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
“Just trying to win games any way we can right now,” Seager explained. “And tonight’s the epitome of that. It’s good pitching. We found a way to score some runs and ended up on top.”
Seager returned to the lineup on Tuesday and had 2 hits in the series opener. He has 8 hits in his last 16 at-bats.
Corey Seager’s Season At The Plate
Seager is batting .218 with a .315 on-base percentage and a .415 slugging percentage across 68 games. He has 13 home runs and 31 RBIs.
Texas has played 128 games this season. Seager has appeared in 68 of them.
He has struck out in 24.8% of his plate appearances this year. His career rate is 18.3%.
Thursday’s home run went the other way, and 18.4% of his batted balls this season have gone to the opposite field.
Over 12 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Texas, Seager is a .285 hitter with a .359 on-base percentage, a .504 slugging percentage, and 234 home runs. He signed a 10-year contract worth $325 million that runs through 2031, and he is making $31.5 million this season.
Seager was the World Series MVP when Texas won the title in 2023. He won the same award with the Dodgers in 2020. He is a five-time All-Star and a three-time Silver Slugger winner.
What’s Next For The Texas Rangers
Jakob Junis, Chase Silseth, and Jacob Latz each threw a scoreless inning behind deGrom. Latz struck out 3 in the ninth for his 25th save in 28 chances.
It was the 12th shutout of the season for Texas, which is 63-65 and tied for the final American League wild card spot.
MacKenzie Gore started Friday against the Los Angeles Angels at 7:15 p.m. CT at Globe Life Field on Rangers Sports Network.
