Texas Rangers’ Wyatt Langford hits an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning on Wednesday in Arlington, Texas, as Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Yasmani Grandal (right) looks on. Photo by The Associated Press
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Rookie Wyatt Langford singled to send pinch runner Ezekiel Duran home with two outs in the ninth inning, giving the Texas Rangers a 1-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday.
Jonah Heim and Adoris Garcia scored Texas’ first run in the top of the ninth off David Bednar (3-6). Duran, pinch-running for Heim, advanced to third on a deep right-field fly by Nathaniel Lowe. Bednar struck out Josh Jung with a 3-2 fastball after Garcia stole second base. Langford then hit a 2-1 curveball to center field for a one-run single.
The Rangers, who fell from third-best in runs to 18th in the major leagues on their way to winning last year’s World Series, were scoreless in nine at-bats with runners in scoring position before Langford’s single.
“In those situations, you always want to have a big hit.” Langford said. “I’m glad I got through it.”
With the win, the Rangers ended a 22-inning shutout streak in the series. The Rangers won two of three games against the Pirates, ending a seven-series losing streak.
Kirby Yates (5-2) pitched a perfect ninth inning for the Rangers, who have won three of their past four games.
Rangers starter Andrew Heaney pitched five scoreless innings, allowing five hits and one walk while striking out eight. The 33-year-old left-hander entered the game with 13 losses, leading the MLB, and averaging 3.84 runs per game, the eighth-lowest in run support among AL players. He received no run support on Wednesday.
“It’s good. He’s good at positioning himself. He’s always calm with guys on base.” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said of Heaney: “The records are not indicative of how he’s been throwing the ball.”
Pittsburgh’s Domingo German pitched six scoreless innings, allowing three single hits and four walks in his first major league start of the year. German, who pitched a perfect game with the New York Yankees in June 2023, made three relief appearances for Pittsburgh after being recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis on Aug. 9.
“His last start was Aug. 3, so it was great to see him pitch six innings.” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He really did a good job of keeping his opponent off balance.”
The Pirates were hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position, left 10 runners on base and struck out 16 times.
“We had our chances. We had the bases loaded twice.” Shelton said. “We just didn’t get the hits we needed to change the flow of the game.”
Pittsburgh put the first two batters on base in the seventh inning, with Yasmani Grandal and pinch hitter Billy McKinney singled. With the infield on base, Kiner-Falefa faked a bunt and hit a liner to first baseman Rowe, who got on base before McKinney for a two-out double. Bryan Reynolds struck out to get out of the danger.
“The ball goes a foot or six inches to the right or left and all of a sudden it’s a double and we’ve got two runs.” Shelton said.
Trainer Room
Rangers: Bochy said if right-hander Max Scherzer (strained arm) goes well in his scheduled rehab appearance on Friday at Double-A Frisco, the 40-year-old three-time Cy Young Award winner should start when the Rangers visit the Chicago White Sox next week.
Next
Pirates: All-Star rookie right-hander Paul Skenes (7-2, 2.30 ERA) opens his fourth straight home series against Cincinnati on Thursday. Skenes threw 129 innings last year for Louisiana State and the Pirates’ three minor league teams and has thrown 125 1/3 innings this year with Pittsburgh and Indianapolis.
Rangers: RHP Nathan Eovaldi (8-7, 3.76 ERA) will face RHP Tanner Bibby (10-5, 3.33 ERA) in Friday’s series opener at Cleveland.
Get the latest news from the day and more delivered to your inbox
