Rangers Sweep Rays on Heim's Walk-Off Single

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

April 6, 2025

Rangers 4, Rays 3

ARLINGTON, Texas (Apr 6) — The Texas Rangers edged the Tampa Bay Rays, 4–3, in dramatic fashion on Sunday afternoon, completing the three-game sweep. They notched their first walk-off win of 2025 thanks to Jonah Heim‘s heroics. With this win, they improve to 8–2 on the year, boasting the best record in the AL. From here, the Rangers head out on a six-game road trip, starting with three against the Chicago Cubs. That series will begin at Wrigley Field Monday at 6:40 pm Central. Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (1–0, 1.20 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Rangers, and lefty Justin Steele (2–1, 6.89 ERA) will get the ball for the Cubs.

The Rays, meanwhile, will fly back to the Sunshine State for a three-game set against the Los Angeles Angels. That series will begin on Tuesday with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 pm Eastern at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. Right-hander Kyle Hendricks (0–0, 3.00 ERA) will get the ball for the Angels, while fellow righty Shane Baz (1–0, 0.00 ERA) will start for the Rays.

Seager Goes Yard

The Rangers scored first in the bottom of the third off Rays starter Drew Rasmussen. Josh Smith led off with a single to left. He promptly moved into scoring position by swiping second for his third stolen base of the year.

Heim followed with a single to right. Two batters later, Smith scored on a 4–6 force play grounded into by Marcus Semien. The Rangers challenged, but the call was upheld.

The Rays evened the score in the top of the fourth against Rangers right-hander Kumar Rocker. Jonathan Aranda, who homered in Saturday’s game, led off with a single to right. Christopher Morel nudged him over to second by grounding softly to third. A wild pitch by Kumar to Kameron Misner advanced Aranda to third. On the next play, Aranda scored on a single to center by Misner.

In the bottom of the sixth, Seager blasted his first homer of the year, a solo shot to right, off Rays reliever Garrett Cleavinger. That really got the crowd of 25,614 on their feet, as Seager was due for a dinger.

The Rangers extended their lead to 3–1 in the bottom of the seventh with Manuel Rodriguez on the mound for the Rays. Heim reached on a fielding error by second baseman Brandon Lowe. He stole second moments later, his first of the year. Heim scored on a single to center by Leody Taveras.

Rays Chip Away

In the top of the eighth, with Marc Church on the hill for the Rangers, the Rays cut the lead to 3–2. Ben Rortvedt led off with a free pass and quickly moved to third on a double by Yandy Diaz. Jonny DeLuca entered the game as a pinch-runner for Diaz at second. Rortvedt scored and DeLuca scurried to third on a groundout to first by Lowe. On deck was Junior Caminero, who plated DeLuca with a sacrifice fly to center to tie it 3–3.

It’s HEIM to Go Home

By the time the bottom of the ninth came around, the crowd was very restless. The Rangers sensed this and delivered against Rays reliever Edwin Uceta. With two outs, things became desperate as extra innings loomed on the horizon. Smith doubled on a fly ball to left. That brought up Heim, who ripped a single to right to score Smith, giving the Rangers the 4–3 win. The fifth walk-off hit of Heim’s career sent the appreciative crowd home happy.

What Went Right for the Rangers

With seven hits to their credit on Sunday, the Rangers kept finding ways to get on base. Seager’s home run provided a nice spark, but the hit everyone will be talking about for a while is Heim’s walk-off single that scored Smith. With Kyle Higashioka getting most of the starts behind the plate thus far in 2025, people have been clamoring for Heim to get some at-bats, and he has made his opportunities count so far.

What Went Wrong for the Rangers

The Rangers ran into some trouble in the eighth when the Rays tied it at three runs apiece. The sacrifice fly by Caminero that tied it cued up a very loud groan from everyone. In that situation, the only thing you can do is keep your head down and get the third out any way you can, and the Rangers were able to do that.

A First for Rocker

Rangers starter Kumar Rocker completed five innings for the first time in his young career, taking a no-decision in his second start of the season and fifth career start. His line on the afternoon was 6 H, 1 R-ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 77 pitches/47 strikes. He logged three scoreless frames to begin his outing for the first time since his major league debut on September 12, 2024 against the Seattle Mariners. His one strikeout marked his lowest total of his five starts and lowest in any professional outing of more than two innings. Rocker’s five frames of one-run ball lowered the Rangers’ starting rotation’s ERA to 2.68 on the season and 1.52 in the quintet’s most recent turn since Tuesday.

After allowing a walk and striking out two in the ninth, righty Jacob Webb earned his first win of the season.

Rasmussen’s Afternoon

Rays starter Drew Rasmussen made his second start of the season on Sunday and did not factor into the decision after tossing five innings of one-run ball. His line on the afternoon was 3 H, 1 BB, 4 K, 79 pitches/48 strikes. Rasmussen did not allow a home run, extending his current homer-less streak to 51 1/3 frames. He entered play Sunday tied with Cade Smith of the Cleveland Guardians for the longest active streak in the AL.

Through two starts in 2025, Rasmussen has allowed one earned run in 10 innings with one walk and eight strikeouts. He is the second pitcher in Rays history with 10 or more innings, one or zero earned runs allowed, one or zero walks, and eight or more strikeouts over his first two games of a season (also Rasmussen in 2023 – 13 IP, 0 ER, 0 BB, 15 K & Yonny Chirinos in 2019 – 12 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K).

After giving up Heim’s RBI single in the ninth, Uceta took the loss.

Bochy’s Postgame Comments

After the game, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy had a relieved expression on his face as he discussed his team’s afternoon. “We’ve been playing a lot of close games,” he said. “Things just keep going right, like Jonah’s stolen base today, and obviously his hit in the ninth. We’re having a good time so far, but we’re still focused. We’re up against a good team in Chicago starting tomorrow, and we’re not going to overlook them.”

Heim’s Postgame Comments

With his son Nash in his lap, Heim also gave his thoughts on the day. “I felt great out there,” Heim said. “A stolen base doesn’t happen very often, for me at least. I had some good coaching from Rags (Rangers first base coach Corey Ragsdale), and I got a pretty good jump, and just took off.”

He was also asked about the walk-off single. “I feel fortunate that the single in the ninth found a hole because I wasn’t sure if it would or not,” he said. “I’ll take it and run. Even though this is the fifth walk-off of my career, they don’t happen often, and I don’t take moments like those for granted.”