PHOENIX — The Texas Rangers took back home field advantage on Monday night.
After a lackluster 9-1 loss to the Diamondbacks in Game 2 tied the series and saw the Rangers relinquish home-field advantage to Arizona, Texas flipped the odds back in their favor in Game 3 with a much-needed 3-1 win on the road at Chase Field.
With the win, the Rangers now hold a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven fall classic.
But does the home field advantage the team also earned on the night even matter? It surely must, but the opposite is at least anecdotally true: Through Game 3 of the World Series, the Rangers remain wholly undefeated on the road all postseason long. This latest win extends their away-from-home win streak to nine games.
The Rangers have Corey Seager and their team defensive prowess to thank for that.
Seager? Well, as he did in Game 1, the MVP candidate once against proved that he's just That Dude. His two-run home run in the third inning of Game 3 -- very possibly the hardest-hit homer in World Series history, no big deal -- gave the Rangers all the offensive output the team would really need to earn the W on this night.
The Rangers' impressive defense on Monday night made sure of that.
Twice in the bottom of the second, the Rangers made remarkable defensive plays to get out of trouble. First, a 94.6-mile-per-hour throw from outfielder Adolis Garcia beat Christian Walker in the race to home for an out on what, frankly, should've been an RBI outfield double from Tommy Pham. Later in the inning, third baseman Josh Jung would show off his own rocket off an arm, cleaning up an infield hit from Alek Thomas that bounced off of starting pitcher Max Scherzer and getting the running out at first.
The Rangers again got out of a major jam in the bottom of the eighth. After Rangers reliever Aroldis Chapman entered the game and promptly gave up the first and only Diamondbacks run of the game, Champan then struck out outfielder Corbin Carroll, and then forced second baseman Ketel Marte into a double play turned by the Rangers' half-a-billion-dollar middle infield of (who else?) Seager and Marcus Semien.
Rangers closer Jose LeClerc -- in for just one inning's work this time -- was then able to earn the save in the ninth.
The Rangers will look to win yet another postseason game on the road in Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday, Oct. 31.
First pitch, as with every game in the series, will come at 7:03 p.m. CT.
It is not yet confirmed who will start Game 4 for each team. Earlier reports suggested the Rangers would turn to Jon Gray for Game 4, but he came in on relief for Scherzer in Game 3, leaving Andrew Heaney the most likely option.