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PHOENIX — Adolis Garcia is not typically one for speeches, but the mood struck him Tuesday afternoon, moments after learning a strain of his obliques would prematurely end his dominant run through this postseason. He gathered his Texas Rangers teammates in Chase Field’s visiting locker room and told them he loved them. He told them to win two more games and capture this franchise’s first World Series championship, in his honor. And he told them he was confident they would pull it off.

“He was vulnerable,” Rangers shortstop Corey Seager said after helping to ignite an 11-7 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 4. “That’s hard to do. To be able to come in, knowing the headspace he’s in, not being able to help us and still contribute — that’s a hard thing to do. He did a great job.”

His teammates did even better.

Facing a string of Arizona Diamondbacks relievers, the Rangers scored 10 runs before the end of the third inning, riding the early onslaught, along with five innings of one-run ball from Andrew Heaney, to a win that felt a lot more lopsided than the final score indicated. The Rangers scored five runs each in the second and third innings, all of them with two outs, and secured their 10th consecutive road victory of these playoffs.

After it was over, a lot of their focus shifted to Garcia, the American League Championship Series MVP who proceeded to hit the walk-off homer to seal a dramatic come-from-behind victory in Game 1 of the World Series. A violent swing that produced a flyout to end the top of the eighth inning in Monday’s Game 3 caused his left side to tighten up, prompting Garcia to exit the game and leave the ballpark for further testing. He showed up early the following day and underwent a heavy round of treatment then took swings in the batting cage, doing his best to avoid what had already felt inevitable.

“I know he did everything possible,” Rangers center fielder Leody Taveras said in Spanish. “Even when he tried, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to go. But he tried anyway because he was just looking for a way.”

Part of Garcia’s pregame message centered on the team’s penchant for overcoming injuries. The tally of Rangers players who spent time on the injured list during the regular season includes six fixtures of their lineup (Seager, Taveras, Jonah Heim, Mitch Garver, Josh Jung and even Garcia himself), two key members of their rotation (Nathan Eovaldi and Jon Gray) and two high-leverage relievers (Josh Sborz and Jose Leclerc). Jacob deGrom, signed to a lucrative free-agent contract to be their ace, was lost for the year to Tommy John surgery. Max Scherzer, acquired at midseason to lead them to a title, suffered a shoulder injury in late September and didn’t return until the ALCS, and he went down again with back spasms on Monday.

Garcia, teammates say, was devastated by his injury.

It was obvious when he spoke.

“I can’t imagine going through a season, putting up the numbers he did, having an incredible postseason breaking records, and not being able to take the field to finish the job,” Texas reserve outfielder Travis Jankowski said.

Heim agreed.

“Yeah, it was emotional,” he said. “Obviously, you never want to see a guy like Adolis go down. He’s been our MVP all postseason. What he said was emotional, and I think it hit us right in the heart and gave us a little lecture of something to play for today. It’s tough when you see somebody show so much emotion. You know he wants to be out there with us. I think tonight was a good example of us rallying around him.”

Texas infielder Marcus Semien contributed a two-run triple in the second inning of Game 4 and a three-run homer in the third. Seager unleashed a 431-foot home run off the facing of a wall beyond the right-center-field fence. And Jankowski — the speedy, glove-first journeyman who replaced Garcia in right field — contributed a two-run double.

The Rangers became the first team in postseason history to score five-plus runs with two outs in consecutive innings and the first to record a 10-run game in the division series, the championship series and the World Series. In the wake of a devastating blow, with both Garcia and Scherzer taken off its roster, Texas became just the third team in World Series history to score 10 or more runs through a game’s first three innings.

“They felt bad for Doli,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “We all did. But you’ve got to move on. You’ve got to focus forward. That’s what we did.”

A sold-out crowd at Chase Field was stunned silent early but continued to seek moments to get excited. One arrived in the bottom of the fourth, with runners on second and third and two outs, but Heaney limited the D-backs to only one run. Another arrived in the eighth, when Lourdes Gurriel Jr.‘s three-run homer highlighted a four-run inning. And the last one arrived in the ninth, when the Rangers were forced to bring their closer, Leclerc, in for the final moments of the contest. But the outcome had long been decided.

The Rangers, with a 3-1 lead in the Series, are one win away from the first title in the 62-year history of this franchise.

“This is where we want to be,” Semien said. “It’s a one-game-at-a-time mentality. We get some rest tonight and understand that we need to focus on what we need to do to win the ballgame, and that’s all there is to it. We win the ballgame, we get a ring, of course.

“But you need to think about the process of how to get that done — good defense, good pitching, timely hitting, two-out RBIs. Those things that we did the last two nights, we need to continue.”

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‘So that’s why they’re called the 0’s’: Twins troll Orioles after shutout win

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'So that's why they're called the 0's': Twins troll Orioles after shutout win

The Minnesota Twins are on a roll. They extended their winning streak to 11 games Thursday with a 4-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles that completed a series sweep. Their confidence carried over to social media, too, as they trolled the Orioles.

Minnesota used a three-run third inning to propel itself to victory, with home runs from DaShawn Keirsey Jr. and Byron Buxton.

The Twins hold the longest win streak in MLB; its their their longest run of victories since winning 12 straight from April 22 to May 4 last season, according to ESPN Research. The franchise record is 15 set in 1991.

Minnesota poked fun at Baltimore’s namesake with a post after the game, referring to the Orioles also being known as the “O’s” — and swapping a zero in for the O.

The Twins have won each of their six matchups against the Orioles this season. All of them have come during Minnesota’s current win streak.

Minnesota (24-20) is fourth in the American League Central behind the Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers.

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Red Sox rookie Campbell working out at 1st base

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Red Sox rookie Campbell working out at 1st base

Star Boston Red Sox rookie Kristian Campbell has started working out at first base in the wake of Triston Casas‘ season-ending knee injury.

Campbell worked out at first before Friday night’s series opener against the Atlanta Braves at Fenway Park, and Red Sox manager Alex Cora addressed the situation when he spoke to reporters before the game.

“Looking for options,” Cora told reporters. “Obviously, we’re getting Romy [Gonzalez] probably at the end of the week, early next week, but just introduce him to first base and see how he looks. That’s where we’re at.”

Casas ruptured the tendon in his left knee while running to first base during a game against the Minnesota Twins earlier this month. His replacement at first, Gonzalez, was placed on the 10-day injured list because of a left quad contusion last week.

One potential replacement, star slugger Rafael Devers, said after Casas went down that he would not be open to moving to first after he went from third base to designated hitter during spring training to make room for Alex Bregman.

Campbell, one of baseball’s top prospects, broke camp with the big league team and has been its primary second baseman through the start of the season. He has also played in the outfield and at shortstop and third base in his career, but never first.

Asked what he would need to see for Campbell to be a realistic option at first for his team, Cora added: “The process started, right? It can take 10 days, 15 days, a month, two months. But we started the process and introduced him to first.”

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McCullers on mound after threatening messages

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McCullers on mound after threatening messages

ARLINGTON, Texas — Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. gave up two unearned runs over four innings against the Texas Rangers on Friday, six nights after the right-hander failed to get out of the first inning in a game that he said was followed by online threats.

McCullers, who is making a comeback after sitting out two full seasons because of injuries, gave up seven runs while getting only one out in Houston’s 13-9 loss last Saturday, then said afterward that he had received online death threats directed at his children. The Astros said Houston police and Major League Baseball security were alerted to the threats.

The 31-year-old right-hander on Friday made only his third start for the Astros since the 2022 World Series. He earned a no-decision.

McCullers needed 83 pitches to get through his four innings and he threw 53 strikes. He struck out two, walked one and gave up four singles.

The only runs against McCullers came when Jonah Heim had a two-run single with two outs in the second inning. That was three batters after shortstop Jeremy Peña was charged with an error when he failed to catch a throw from McCullers, who was trying to get the lead runner at second base after fielding a comebacker.

Jake Burger, whose homer was the only run in the Rangers’ 1-0 win in the series opener Thursday night, then had an infield popout before Heim’s hit into the right-field corner.

Astros manager Joe Espada said before Friday’s game that McCullers mentally was “in a good spot. Physically, he’s fine. He just needs to go out there and just have some confidence and pitch, be aggressive in the zone and we have his back.”

McCullers had surgery in June 2023 to repair his right flexor tendon and remove a bone spur, and was rehabbing last June when he had a setback during a bullpen session that shut him down for the rest of the season. He made four starts in the minor leagues this year before rejoining the Astros rotation on May 4.

“We all have confidence he can do it. He just needs to go out there and do his thing,” Espada said. “It’s going to happen.”

McCullers is 49-33 and 3.53 ERA in 133 games (130 starts) for the Astros since his big league debut with them in 2015.

An All-Star in 2017, McCullers went 10-6 with a 3.86 ERA in 25 games in 2018 before Tommy John surgery. He was 13-5 with a 3.16 ERA in 28 starts in 2021, then signed an $85 million, five-year contract that goes through 2026.

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