Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Texas Rangers to level series

The Arizona Diamondbacks evened the World Series at 1-1, defeating the Texas Rangers 9-1 after a stellar outing from starting pitcher Merrill Kelly.

The visitors took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning before Mitch Garver answered with a solo home run for Texas.

But while Kelly was mostly hitless, the visitors continued to add more runs against the Rangers’ bullpen.

The best-of-seven series now shifts to Arizona, with the game in Phoenix on Monday night (00:00 GMT Tuesday).

In contrast to the previous night’s matchup, the game began with a pitching duel as both sides struggled to put men on in the early going, but the D-backs broke the deadlock when Gabriel Moreno homered and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drove in a run. by Tommy Pham.

The Rangers didn’t register a hit against Kelly until the bottom of the fourth at Globe Life Field, though Garver’s homer in the fifth cut the lead in half.

But the Diamondbacks pulled ahead in the seventh with a rally led by veteran infielder Evan Longoria, who scored Alek Thomas to make it 3-1, as Texas pulled their starter Jordan Montgomery, but it wasn’t good. in a series of relievers. .

Longoria advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt and was then struck out by Corbin Carroll as the Diamondbacks continued to put on baserunners.

Kelly left after giving up three hits, no walks and striking out nine batters in seven solid innings, securing his side’s head back to the desert on level terms.

The runs kept coming for Arizona as Ketel Marte extended his postseason hitting streak to 18 games to set a new MLB record, while Carroll and Emmanuel Rivera drove in more runs to make the score look more lopsided.