Cal Quantrill sharp as Rangers slide past Angels
Cal Quantrill spun six scoreless innings, while Ezequiel Duran and Elias Diaz delivered solo homers to lift Texas to a 5-3 win over Los Angeles in Arlington on Sunday. Quantrill (6-4) scattered six hits, fanned six and walked no one, extending his two-game scoreless streak and yielding just one run over his last 19 innings across four appearances.
Duran jump-started the scoring with a leadoff homer in the second, his 14th of the season and the first round-tripper of this three-game set for either club.
Two batters later, Logan O’Hoppe singled and came around to score on a Freeman triple to center, with Freeman then racing home on Diaz’s sacrifice fly to center to push the lead to 3-0.
Texas padded its advantage in the fifth when Diaz lined a 1-2 fastball from Yusei Kikuchi off the second-deck in left-center for his sixth homer of the season, his first since August 1. That same frame featured Diaz’s bat staying hot as the Rangers extended the cushion further with a productive sacrifice fly that plated Freeman, giving Texas a 5-0 edge.
Corey Seager kept his hot stretch alive, collecting two singles to record his sixth multi-hit performance in seven games.
Angels finally found some offense late, starting with Zach Neto homering to left to open the eighth, his 22nd of the year. Josh Lowe added a sacrifice fly, and Gustavo Campero followed with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 5-3.
Chase Silseth then induced Jose Siri to fly out to end the eighth, and Jacob Latz worked around trouble in the ninth to earn his 26th save of the season.
Los Angeles’ Yusei Kikuchi, back from the 60-day injured list, was tagged for five runs on seven hits over five innings in his return to the mound.
Quantrill’s steadiness and Texas’ early offense made the difference in a decisive matchup of the three-game series, locking in a victory that kept the Rangers rolling as they closed out the weekend.
