Ketel Marte’s solo home run with two outs in the ninth inning was the difference as the Arizona Diamondbacks came from behind to beat the Texas Rangers 3-2 on Tuesday in the middle game of a three-game interleague set in Arlington, Texas.
Marte’s long ball came off Rangers reliever Danny Coulombe (2-1), who had not allowed a home run all season. Marte had two hits and two RBIs as the Diamondbacks won for the fourth time in their past five games.
Tyler Locklear also had two of Arizona’s eight hits and Blaze Alexander added a solo homer.
Arizona reliever Jalen Beeks (3-1) reaped the reward for Marte’s clutch homer after allowing a walk and striking out one over 1 2/3 innings. Juan Morillo pitched a perfect ninth to earn his first save of the season.
Texas managed just four hits — only one after the third inning — and lost for the fifth time in six games.
The Rangers took the lead in the second with Joc Pederson singling off Arizona starter Anthony DeSclafani, going to second on a single by Wyatt Langford, stealing third base and then coming home on an RBI groundout by Adolis Garcia.
The Diamondbacks answered in the third when Alexander led off the frame with a home run into the stands in left-center field, his fourth of the season.
Texas retook the lead in the bottom of the third. Kyle Higashioka walked, went to second on a single by Josh Smith, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on Marcus Semien’s sacrifice fly.
Arizona tied it again in the seventh thanks to a pair of Rangers errors. Reliever Robert Garcia tried to flip the ball over his shoulder after partially knocking down a grounder from Jose Herrera that became an infield single, allowing Herrera to move to second.
Josh Jung then booted Gerlado Perdomo’s sacrifice bunt, with Herrera going to third. Marte came through when he squibbed a grounder to Semien at second base and beat the throw to first as Herrera raced across the plate to make it 2-2.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo was ejected by home plate umpire Nate Tomlinson in the ninth inning for arguing balls and strikes. Marte immediately followed with his game winning round tripper.
–Field Level Media
