Texas Rangers 'Dagger' Defense Beats Arizona Diamondbacks in World Series Game 3
PHOENIX — The Texas Rangers have built part of their success this season on defense. Three plays in Game 3 of the World Series defined that commitment.
Two of those plays came in the second inning, with the game still scoreless. Arizona Diamondbacks’ Christian Walker had just doubled off Rangers starter Max Scherzer to lead off the inning.
Tommy Pham followed with a single. Walker rounded third and headed for home.
Unfortunately for Walker, Pham hit that single to Rangers right fielder Adolis García, the same right fielder with 39 outfield assists since the start of the 2021 season.
It almost looked too easy.
“I’m surprised anybody runs on Adolis,” Rangers catcher Jonah Heim said. “(He’s a) Gold Glove-caliber right fielder. He always seem to make the big throw when you need him to. He’s pretty special.”
Rangers third baseman Josh Jung seemed a bit surprised at what happened, as he thought Diamondbacks third base coach Tony Perezchica put a stop sign on Walker.
“You know I saw the guy’s hands go up,” Jung said, referring to Perezchica. “But, I mean, some teams do that. Some teams do that to try and get me yelling or something. So I didn’t see anything before the stop sign. So I don’t know if you’re sending him with a stop sign to try to get me to say something.”
Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien said it was the game's most important play. Walker being thrown out at the plate took much of the crowd at Chase Field out of the game.
"That was actually an unbelievable throw considering how deep the ball was," Semien said. "It shows you how strong his arm is, he can throw flat-footed all the way to home plate like that. That changed the entire game."
With Walker off the basepaths, Jung made the second exceptional play of the game, also in the second. After Lourdes Gurriel Jr. popped out, Diamondbacks center fielder Alek Thomas hit a hard grounder that ricocheted off of Scherzer’s elbow and caromed toward third base. Jung bare-handed it and made a snap throw to first baseman Nathaniel Lowe for the final out.
Jung, who Rangers shortstop Corey Seager said earlier this postseason was snubbed when he wasn’t selected as a Gold Glove finalist, made that look nearly as easy as García did.
“It was more like a Johnny-on-the-spot situation,” Jung said. “The ball hit off his elbow and kind of rolled right toward me.”
For the Rangers, that defense led to offense in the third, as they scored all three of their runs with a Semien RBI single and a two-run home run by Seager. That ended up being the difference in their 3-1 victory and 2-1 series lead.
Seager and Semien figured prominently in the Rangers’ big defensive play late, a 6-4-3 double play that cleared the bases to end the eighth after the Diamondbacks had closed the lead to 3-1.
Seager sparked the double play, going to his knees to field Ketel Marte’s ground ball up the middle. He then tossed it like a shovel pass with his back to Semien for the force at second. Semien then turned it quickly to Lowe for the double play.
The play was reviewed, but both outs stood and the Rangers escaped with a two-run lead.
“He’s (Seager) been playing great defense,” Semien said. “He deserves a Gold Glove this year. To be in the World Series and make that play in the biggest moment of the game when they kind of had a rally going is a big dagger to them.”
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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