Watch: Texas Rangers Fight Back, Force Tie Against Royals in Penultimate Spring Game
The Texas Rangers finished up their penultimate game of the spring on Monday evening in a 4-4 tie with the Kansas City Royals.
Nathan Eovaldi made his final outing before the regular season. He makes his first start with the Rangers on Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies.
While it wasn't the performance he was hoping for, Eovaldi touched 96 mph on his fastball and able to go five innings. He did give up four earned runs on seven hits in that span, however.
Three of those runs came off of back-to-back home runs from Royals infielders Michael Massey and Hunter Dozier in the fourth inning.
Despite a rough start, there were plenty of silver linings throughout as the Rangers were able to get a few back on the board late. The best at-bat of the night was Josh Smith's in the seventh that resulted in a double.
Smith struck a ball well to left-center that was too much to handle for a diving Parker Bates. It brought home Mitch Garver and Robbie Grossman, slashing the Royals' lead in half to 4-2.
The Rangers then completed the comeback in the eighth on a two-out rally. It all started with a single by Josh Jung, who was brought home on a Grossman single. Garver, who had walked after Jung's single, scored from second on a Jonah Heim single.
Just like that, it was tied up 4-4.
Closer candidates Jonathan Hernández and José Leclerc both put in an inning of work apiece. Hernández put in a 1-2-3 inning that concluded with back-to-back strikeouts.
Leclerc somehow looked even better as he struck out the side in the top of the ninth. Texas has a good problem on its hands when it comes to determining who will handle the highest leverage situations this season.
The Rangers weren't able to complete the win in the bottom of the ninth as they went down in order.
Also of note, Corey Seager's 15-game hitting streak came to an end.
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