Rangers score last, beat Cards in extras
Nomar Mazara's sacrifice fly in the 10th inning capped a back-and-forth game Sunday afternoon and lifted the host Texas Rangers to a 5-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Rangers took two of three from the Cardinals and have won four of five. St. Louis has lost four of five and is 5-13 this month.
The Rangers broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the eighth on Danny Santana's second career pinch-hit homer before the Cardinals forced extras on Dexter Fowler's one-out homer in the ninth off Texas closer Chris Martin.
The Cardinals then took the lead in the 10th when Harrison Bader hit a leadoff double against Jeanmar Gomez (1-0), went to third on a groundout by Paul Goldschmidt and scored on a sacrifice fly by Paul DeJong.
But Jordan Hicks (1-2), who entered with two outs in the eighth for the Cardinals, gave up a leadoff single to Rougned Odor in the bottom of the inning and walked Santana before surrendering a game-tying pinch-hit RBI single to Willie Calhoun.
With Santana on third, Carlos Martinez entered and intentionally walked Shin-Soo Choo to load the bases. Martinez struck out Logan Forsythe for the first out before Mazara flew out to medium left-center field. Bader's throw home was wide on the first base side as Santana slid home with the winning run.
Choo had two hits for the Rangers, including a leadoff homer in the first that cut the Cardinals' lead to 2-1. It was the first leadoff homer of the season for Choo and the 28th of his career.
Texas tied the game in the fourth, when Forsythe led off with a walk and scored on Hunter Pence's one-out double.
Bader, Goldschmidt and DeJong also teamed up for the Cardinals' first-inning rally, when Bader laced a leadoff double against Drew Smyly and Goldschmidt drew a walk before DeJong delivered a two-run double.
Bader and Marcell Ozuna each had two hits.
Smyly gave up two runs on three hits and four walks while striking out four over four innings. Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty allowed two runs on four hits and two walks while striking out five over six innings.
--Field Level Media
