Josh Jung’s single in the top of the ninth capped a 3-for-4 day and plated the go-ahead run for the Texas Rangers, who scored twice in the top of the ninth to beat the Colorado Rockies, 5-4, on Wednesday afternoon in Denver.
Trailing by a run with just two outs to spare, the Rangers rallied unconventionally to win back-to-back games for the first time in a week and claim the interleague series.
Brennan Bernardino (2-2) struck out Danny Jansen to start the inning, but Joc Pederson reached via catcher’s interference on a 2-2 pitch before Justin Foscue and Alejandro Osuna singled to load the bases.
Juan Mejia came in for Bernardino, and on the second pitch, catcher Brett Sullivan could not corral a strike as the passed ball allowed Pederson to tie the game.
Four pitches later, Jung grounded one through the left side against a drawn-in infield to put the Rangers ahead.
Jacob Latz (1-1) allowed just a hit in two innings of relief and struck out four. Bernardino was charged with both runs, neither earned, in a third of an inning.
Foscue went 3-for-5 for his second three-hit game of the series. Jake Burger hit his ninth home run of the season as part of a 2-for-5 game.
Burger’s blast came immediately after Ezequiel Duran knocked a two-run shot off Rockies starter Kyle Freeland in the fourth to give Texas its first lead of the game.
Colorado got one back in its half of the fourth when Kyle Karros successfully challenged an initial strike-three call that would have ended the inning. Instead, he earned a run-scoring walk off Rangers starter Jack Leiter.
Colorado’s Tyler Freeman avoided a strikeout in the fifth thanks to ABS and his single on the next pitch scored Jake McCarthy, who opened the inning with a triple, to tie the game at 3.
An out and a wild pitch later, Freeman scored the go-ahead run on Troy Johnston’s single.
Freeland went 4 2/3 innings for Colorado. He allowed three runs on seven hits and issued two walks, while striking out four.
Leiter threw five innings and was responsible for all four Colorado runs. He also gave up seven hits and a pair of walks, striking out five.
