Elly De La Cruz singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and the visiting Cincinnati Reds beat the Texas Rangers 2-1 on Sunday to complete the three-game sweep.
De La Cruz had two hits and scored a run, and Will Benson had two hits for Cincinnati.
Joc Pederson homered for Texas, which scored four runs in the series and has dropped four straight.
Reliever Sam Moll (1-0) got the win, and Brock Burke struck out the side in the ninth for his first career save. Robert Garcia (0-1) took the loss in relief.
Matt McLain walked leading off the eighth against Garcia, stole second and scored when De La Cruz grounded a single to right. De La Cruz stole second, Eugenio Suarez walked and Spencer Steer singled off Chris Martin to load the bases, but Tyler Stephenson lined into a double play.
The Rangers got runners on first and third with two outs in the eighth, but Connor Phillips retired Evan Carter on a liner to center field.
Chase Burns of the Reds and Mark Leiter of the Rangers dueled early.
Burns took a shutout into the seventh inning before giving up Pederson’s homer. He went six-plus innings and gave up five hits. He struck out nine and walked one.
Leiter allowed a run on four hits over five innings and also struck out nine with a walk.
The Reds took a 1-0 lead in the fourth. De La Cruz singled and took second on a deep fly to right. Suarez fell behind Leiter 0-2 but battled back and grounded a 2-2 pitch to center for a single that scored De La Cruz.
Pederson, hitless in his first 16 at-bats this season, led off the seventh and homered to right on a 2-1 fastball to tie it. The Rangers had not scored since the seventh inning of Friday night’s game.
Carter was called out at first on an infield grounder, but Texas challenged and the call was overturned. After Pierce Johnson replaced Burns, Carter stole second and went to third on a fly out. Josh Smith walked and stole second, but Johnson struck out pinch-hitter Andrew McCutchen. Moll came on and struck out Brandon Nimmo to end the inning.
–Field Level Media
