Texas Rangers Relievers Step Up in Walk-off Win Over Angels

The Texas Rangers bullpen allowed only one run in seven innings in Saturday's 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels in 13 innings.

May 18, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers relief pitcher David Robertson (37) throws to the | Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports

For a pitching staff is some disarray, Saturday night’s 3-2 marathon victory over the Los Angeles Angels was a welcome sight for the Texas Rangers.

Nathaniel Lowe forced home the winning run on a walk-off hit by pitch in the 13th inning with the bases loaded.

The reigning World Series champions got both a quality start and solid work out of the bullpen to avoid falling under .500 for the first time this season and first time in Bruce Bochy’s managerial tenure in Texas. The Rangers are 24-23 going into Sunday's series finale at Globe Life Field.

José Ureña made his third start (13th appearance) of the season and did not factor into the decision despite posting his second quality start in as many outings. The well-traveled right-hander went six strong innings, giving up just four hits and one earned run. He struck out three and allowed a walk in 101 pitchers, with 61 for strikes.

The lone damage came on Taylor Ward’s solo shot in the fourth inning. Ureña did record a pair of three-up, three-down innings (first and fifth) and tossed 29 pitches in the third, but maneuvered around a one-out double in the frame to escape unscathed. Over his last three games (all starts), Ureña 1-2, with a 2.04 ERA in 17 2/3 innings.

“It starts with Ureña, I mean, what a job he did,” Bochy said. “It was a terrific game. It gives us a chance and then we had some guys that really stepped up. It was a hard-fought win.”

Rangers relievers combined to give up just one run over seven innings with nine strikeouts. David Robertson was one of bullpen arms to step up big, pitching a pair of scoreless innings, covering the 10th and 11th frames.

He retired all six batters faced, with three punchouts. It marked Robertson’s third time to work a season-high 2.0 innings, as he has yet to allow a hit in any of those outings.

Yerry Rodríguez worked the final two innings for his first MLB win, putting an exclamation point on an outstanding relief effort by the Rangers bullpen.

“We needed that,” Robertson said. “We've been scuffling, and it's not just the pitching. It's not just the hitting. We've just been kind of scuffling. We haven't really played great baseball as a team. We're a good team. We just haven't put it together in a long spurt. So it can be frustrating and guys can get down about it, but we're not worried about it. We just got to do our job and eventually we turned things around.”

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