ARLINGTON, Texas — A two-run double by Francisco Alvarez off Nathan Eovaldi in the sixth inning put the New York Mets ahead to stay Tuesday night at Globe Life Field.
New York beat the Texas Rangers 6-3 in the opener of a three-game series. It was the second loss in a row for Texas.
Later that night, the Houston Astros won 7-0 at the Seattle Mariners and pulled back into a tie with the Rangers for first place in the American League West. Both teams are 78-79 with five games left, and Houston owns the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Texas had held the division lead alone for three days after gaining four games on the Astros since Sept. 12. The Rangers have spent 51 days this season with at least a share of first place.
The Astros were still playing in Seattle when the Rangers’ game ended. Houston’s win went final after the Texas clubhouse had opened to reporters.
“It’s about us and it’s about what we do out there,” first baseman Jake Burger said. “I don’t think we should focus on any other team other than what we did tonight. To be completely frank, it was bad showing on multiple fronts. So just flush it, move on tomorrow. We have five games left. They have [five] games left. We just go out there and play our game.”
“Obviously, it sucks,” Burger continued. “We wanted to win this game, but can’t really dwell on it anymore. I’ll put my head down on the pillow and focus on tomorrow.”
It was the first game for Mets manager Andy Green since New York removed his interim tag earlier Tuesday and gave him a three-year contract. Green had run the team on an interim basis since Carlos Mendoza was fired June 26. The Mets are 72-85.
Mets Retake The Lead Against Nathan Eovaldi In The Sixth
The Mets scored first on an RBI single by Juan Soto in the third inning. Josh Jung answered with an RBI double in the bottom half to tie it 1-1.
In the fourth, Carson Benge hit a ground-rule double. Alvarez later sent a ball into the gap, and it ricocheted off the heel of right fielder Brandon Nimmo’s glove as center fielder Ezequiel Duran converged. Benge scored, and Nimmo was charged with an error.
Tuesday was Nimmo’s first game against the Mets, who drafted him 13th overall in 2011. He played 10 big league seasons in New York before the Mets traded him to Texas last November for second baseman Marcus Semien. Semien, part of the Rangers’ only World Series title team in 2023, received a tribute video after the first inning and went 0-for-5.
Nimmo, who finished with 2 hits, led off the bottom of the fourth with a single. Sean Manaea hit two batters in the inning, and sacrifice flies by Elias Díaz and Wyatt Langford put the Rangers ahead 3-2.
Texas did not score again. Manaea (6-7) worked 6 innings and allowed 3 hits and 2 earned runs, with 9 strikeouts.
“I do feel like there was a couple really good at-bats… and unfortunately it was some sac flies,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “Even though the run scored, man, Díaz hit that ball really well, got to the track. Wyatt Langford smoked that ball right to the track. Duran smoked that ball, right, I mean, I felt like they took some quality at-bats. It wasn’t like some check swings and back to the pitcher.”
“But we did strike out probably too many times, and that was the unfortunate part,” Schumaker continued. “But I do feel like there was some good at-bats with the runners in scoring position. We just didn’t get a crooked number. We got a couple runs, just didn’t get the crooked number.”
“The plays behind them, I think those… you’re used to seeing those plays made,” Schumaker added. “I will say that. They’re really good. They play fundamentally sound. They’ve been playing fundamentally sound baseball. We made a couple miscues tonight. It cost us, and that’s part of the reason why we lost. Again, that’s why we have to flush it.”
Eovaldi came on in the sixth, making his fourth relief appearance since coming off the injured list. Brett Baty led off with a double, and Alvarez later doubled to center for two runs and a 4-3 New York lead. Alvarez came home on a sacrifice fly by Luis Torrens to make it 5-3.
Burger made the catch on Torrens’ popup in foul territory, and his double pump on the play let Alvarez score. Nimmo’s error in the fourth was the only one charged to Texas.
“It’s terrible,” Burger explained. “Obviously, our pitchers are giving us a chance every night, and we got to pick them up. Can’t expect to win the division when we’re playing like that, on three obviously separate occasions, in my opinion.”
“It sucks. It’s behind us, though,” Burger continued. “We got to flush it and focus on tomorrow. I don’t think that’s who we are.”
Benge added an RBI double off Robert Garcia in the seventh to make it 6-3. He finished with 2 doubles, 2 runs, and 1 RBI. His 159 hits this season are a Mets rookie record. Alvarez doubled, scored twice, and drove in 2, and Kodai Senga pitched the ninth for his eighth save.
Eovaldi (11-10) took the loss. Schumaker limited his evaluation to Tuesday’s outing rather than the full stretch of relief appearances.
“Today, leadoff hitter, 0-2 count, just kind of made too good of a fastball kind of in the middle of the zone to Baty, ended up getting a leadoff double,” Schumaker explained. “And then there’s just a couple splits that just didn’t have the depth to it, and I think that was the issue tonight as far as there’s some good ones, and then the ones that got hit just didn’t have the bite to it to Alvarez, especially kind of in the middle of the plate, and he doubled.”
“So I just thought there’s just a couple pitches that he’s used to executing that got too much of the plate tonight,” Schumaker continued.
The first Mets run scored on Soto’s single up the middle in the third, a ball that got past Justin Foscue. Nimmo’s error in the fourth and the foul popup in the sixth also turned into runs.
“Even if Foscue catches that ball, I don’t think he gets Soto,” Schumaker said. “Having said that, I do think that potentially he could have got that ball but in a dive or whatever saved it and kept it inside in the infield. It was first and third. I still think the run scores.”
“So that one’s a different play to me than the other ones,” Schumaker continued. “It probably didn’t look great, but I think the run still scores. The other two I feel like are just a little bit of communication lapses and stuff that we should be… we’ve been good at and just happened tonight, unfortunately.”
MacKenzie Gore Pitches Five Innings After Second-Inning Mound Visit
MacKenzie Gore has been dealing with muscle spasms since his previous start against the Boston Red Sox, when he lasted 4 innings. Eovaldi finished that game with 4 scoreless innings behind reliever Jakob Junis. Gore said he felt he had figured out how to deal with the spasms.
In the second inning Tuesday, Gore walked Francisco Lindor on four pitches. Schumaker, pitching coach Jordan Tiegs, and head trainer Matt Lucero went to the mound, and Gore stayed in the game. His velocity was down multiple ticks across the board, Kennedi Landry of MLB.com reported.
Gore went 5 innings and allowed 2 runs, 1 of them earned, before handing a 3-2 lead to Eovaldi.
“I was definitely checking on his health, making sure that the lat was okay, just kind of the way he was reacting sometimes to pitches,” Schumaker said. “After we took him out in the fifth inning, he said he was good as far as he didn’t feel anything in the back and the lat area, and that’s a very encouraging sign to hear. He just felt just a little fatigued back there, not in his body, but just in that area, but nothing that was in pain or anything.”
“But when we went out there, we asked the same thing, and he said he felt okay, and he was ready to go,” Schumaker continued. “And then actually his velo increased. Even that last inning was like 94 to 96, which was a good sign. And that’s, even though he gave up the hit to Soto, was the reason why I left him out there, because he looked good against Bichette.”
Texas acquired Gore from the Washington Nationals last offseason in a trade that sent five prospects to Washington.
“He grinded that out,” Schumaker said. “He gave everything he had today, an impressive outing. I thought he did enough. He thought he did enough as well, five innings coming out with the lead. We had a couple misplays behind him as well, and he fought through it. So I thought he did an excellent job.”
All 3 Texas runs came while Gore was in the game.
“I think they have stepped up in the last couple series,” Schumaker said. “I mean, the Arizona series they stepped up. Against Boston they stepped up. Last series they stepped up. And, again, we had chances to put up crooked numbers with different guys up.”
“And I really do think they put good swings at times to put the crooked number up,” Schumaker continued. “We just got the sac fly instead. And again, I’ll take the run scored. Going to Evo with the lead, I’ll take that. We just couldn’t hold it.”
The Rangers and Mets play again Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. CT at Globe Life Field. Rookie right-hander Nolan McLean (11-10, 3.18 ERA) is scheduled to start for New York. Texas had not announced its starter as of late Tuesday.
