By CNN
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The Texas Rangers are now just two games away from winning the first World Series in franchise history after extending their incredible road run with a 3-1 Game 3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix.
The Rangers are now the first team in MLB history to win nine consecutive road games in the postseason, overcoming injuries to main men Max Scherzer and Adolis García to take a 2-1 series lead.
Corey Seager hit a two-run home run in the third inning to give the Rangers a commanding 3-0 lead that they never looked like relinquishing.
Even Seager was at a loss to explain the team’s absurd form on the road during these playoffs.
“We’re just showing up to play every day,” the Rangers shortstop said, according to ESPN. “We’re trying to win that day. No matter where we are, we’re trying to play good baseball every day.
“I don’t know how to credit it to anything other than that, really. Sorry.”
ESPN reported that García had imaging done on his injured left side of his torso following the game, while Scherzer was hoping to recover from back spasms within 48 hours, though that would still put him at risk of missing Games 4 and 5 on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Even if García is unable to return in the series, Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien remains confident others can fill the Cuban’s sizable shoes.
“He’s been the heart and soul of our team,” Semien said, per ESPN. “That being said, we’ve had Adolis go down earlier in the season, we’ve had guys step up, and that’s what the entire year has been.”
In the second inning and in a great position to score the first run of the game, Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker misread teammate Tommy Pham’s hit and set off late as he tried to reach third base.
The split-second delay meant Walker had ground to make up, so he put his head down and motored around the bases. In doing so, he missed a stop sign from third base coach Tony Perezchica and ran straight through, resulting in García and catcher Jonah Heim easily getting him out.
“At very critical times of the game – whether it’s in the first inning, second inning, you just don’t know when it’s going to happen – we’ve been really good at being able to execute at a high level,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo told reporters.
“We may have scored a bunch of runs, you just don’t know what would happen. The outcome would have been totally different. The beauty of it is we should have been better in that situation.
“Christian Walker owned it, he accepted it, he was accountable for his actions and I know I will still consider him one our best, instinctual base runners. I think it was just a misread and then trying to make up for it and he compounded things and it just didn’t go the way we wanted it to.”
The teams return to Arizona’s Chase Field for Game 4 on Tuesday, the second of three consecutive games at the D-Backs’ home, with the Rangers now confidently eyeing a 10th straight road win and taking another step closer to a historic World Series win.
