ARLINGTON, Texas — Elias Díaz hit the first Texas Rangers grand slam of the season in the seventh inning Friday night, and the Tampa Bay Rays held on for a 7-6 win at Globe Life Field.
Tampa Bay had lost 10 straight road games against Texas before Friday. The Rays are 84-57. The Rangers fell to 70-72 and matched their largest deficit in the American League West this season at 3 games after Houston beat Arizona 3-1.
Two Openers Ahead Of Kumar Rocker
Texas opened with right-hander Trevor Williams and left-hander Robby Ahlstrom before turning to Kumar Rocker. Williams worked a scoreless first inning and struck out Jonathan Aranda. Ahlstrom stranded the bases loaded in the second and allowed 1 hit over his inning.
“The way they had their lineup constructed, it was right, left, right, some pretty good hitters at the top, and then all left-handers after that,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “We thought if we could match up Ahlstrom with all left-handers and give him the best opportunity to put up a zero and give us a good chance to hopefully score first, which we did with Zeke’s big home run. We felt like we were in a good spot. So we had two scoreless and then went to Rocker and trying to get through at least the fifth inning and then go to the bullpen after that.”
“So I haven’t done that before just because they had six lefties, I think, after the third hitter,” Schumaker continued. “So it just made the most sense, and Robbie did a good job getting out of the jam.”
The Rangers had used an opener twice this season, both times ahead of Rocker and both times on the road. Rocker carries an 8.63 ERA in the first inning this season, the second-highest mark in the majors among pitchers with at least 20 first innings, behind only teammate Jacob deGrom at 9.00. His ERA in all other innings entering Friday was 3.49.
Rocker fell to 5-11. He gave up 6 runs, 5 of them earned, on 9 hits over 5 innings, with 3 strikeouts and no walks.
The 9 hits were the second most Rocker has allowed in a game. He gave up 10 on Aug. 2 at Houston. It was the most by a Rangers reliever since Caleb Boushley allowed 10 on June 22, 2025, at Pittsburgh.
How The Tampa Bay Rays Broke It Open In The Fifth
Ezequiel Duran led off the second inning with a home run for a 1-0 lead. Aranda answered with a solo shot in the third, and Richie Palacios homered with two outs in the fourth to put Tampa Bay ahead 2-1.
Yandy Díaz, Aranda, and Junior Caminero opened the fifth inning with three consecutive opposite-field doubles for a 4-1 lead. Victor Mesa Jr. blooped a single to shallow center with one out, and Caminero scored while Mesa took second on an error by Evan Carter. Mesa later scored during a rundown to make it 6-1.
“Unfortunately in the fifth inning we just couldn’t contain them,” Schumaker said. “I thought the opener with Williams and Ahlstrom was really good. Trying to get through at least the fifth inning with Rocker and then try to match up after that. Unfortunately, the fifth inning, I think we gave up four runs in the fifth. A couple scoreless after that. Tried to keep it within one and just couldn’t do it.”
Yandy Díaz finished with 3 hits and a run scored. Aranda doubled, homered, drove in 2 runs, and scored twice. Caminero had 2 hits and 2 RBIs.
Schumaker said Rocker’s velocity and slider shape held up.
“It’s a lot of innings for him this year, more than ever. But he was throwing 96 miles an hour,” Schumaker explained. “I think it was just the execution of the pitches, where kind of their hot zones, he threw it there, unfortunately, a few times and paid for it. So there was some really good pitches that were made. His velo was there. His slider shapes were there. That part of it was good. Unfortunately, the execution of the pitch ended up catching up to him, and those top four hitters especially, I mean, they’re a good lineup up and down. But the top four hitters, if you make a mistake, they’re going to make you pay. And he made a few mistakes to them. So I would say he’s out of gas because the velo and everything else was there. But the location just wasn’t there tonight.”
Elias Díaz’s Grand Slam Cuts It To One
Nick Martinez left with one out and two on in the seventh and the Rays ahead 6-1. Garrett Cleavinger walked Cody Freeman, and Elias Díaz lined a 1-2 slider just over the left field fence for the grand slam that cut the lead to 6-5.
It was the fourth career grand slam for Elias Díaz. He drove in 5 runs.
“At this point of the season, it’s about winning games, and it’s as great as it was for Díaz, and it was a really good moment, and within one run felt good about keeping it there and giving ourselves a chance to score one run in the ninth,” Schumaker said. “It’s hard to score two against a closer, so try to do the best we could to keep it within one run and try to match up the best we could to keep it there to give our offense a chance.”
Cleavinger came out after Justin Foscue singled, and Cam Booser got Corey Seager to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Martinez improved to 14-4 and tied Drew Rasmussen for the Tampa Bay lead in wins. He allowed 3 runs on 5 hits over 6 1/3 innings, striking out 4 and walking 2. Friday was his first appearance as a visitor at Globe Life Field. Martinez began his major league career with Texas 12 years ago and later spent four seasons in Japan.
The Ninth Inning And What Comes Next
Kevin Kelly pitched a perfect eighth inning. Caminero singled home a run in the ninth to make it 7-5.
Bryan Baker, the major league saves leader, walked the first two batters of the ninth and left the game with a trainer. Baker believed the issue was dehydration.
Tyler Wells replaced him. Both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt, and Elias Díaz hit a sacrifice fly to make it 7-6 and put the tying run at third with two outs. Foscue popped out to end it, and Wells recorded his sixth save.
Schumaker was asked whether the club struggles to recover when it falls behind.
“I think the fight back tonight would suggest that’s not how they feel. A 6-1 lead against one of the best teams in all of Major League Baseball and to come back within one late in the game would say just the opposite,” Schumaker said. “And maybe that has been, the numbers suggest that, but you wouldn’t know it by the way they fought back tonight. And again, they came within one run against one of their All-Star closer coming in the game, we felt really good about where our lineup was and getting one, just couldn’t keep it to one, unfortunately, and it ended up being the game winning run, when they added one more run.”
Rocker has thrown 134 2/3 innings this season, more than in any year of his professional career. He threw 28 innings in the minors in 2023, 36 2/3 in the minors and 11 2/3 in the majors in 2024, and 64 1/3 in the majors in 2025. The only other time he exceeded 120 innings was his junior season at Vanderbilt in 2021, when he threw 122.
Texas had won four of five entering Friday. Cal Quantrill allowed 2 hits and 2 walks over 7 scoreless innings in a 6-0 win in the series opener on Thursday.
Rasmussen (14-5, 2.95 ERA) is scheduled to start for Tampa Bay on Saturday against Rangers right-hander Jacob deGrom (10-9, 4.00).
