Diamondbacks Edge Rangers in Middle Game

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

August 12, 2025

Diamondbacks 3, Rangers 2

ARLINGTON, Texas (Aug 12) — The Texas Rangers had some bad luck Tuesday as they lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3–2, in front of a rather small crowd of 18,268. The Diamondbacks profited from a go-ahead homer by Ketel Marte in the ninth. The Rangers, meanwhile, will try for the series win Wednesday evening with first pitch scheduled for 1:35 pm Central at Globe Life Field. Righty Zac Gallen (9–12, 5.31 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Diamondbacks, while Merrill Kelly (9–7, 3.38 ERA) will go up against his former teammates in the series finale.

Pederson Steals Third

The Rangers scored first in the top of the second off Diamondbacks righty Anthony DeSclafani. The Rangers opened the frame with back-to-back singles by Joc Pederson and Wyatt Langford. A steal of third put Pederson 90 feet away from home. Two batters later, he scored when Adolis Garcia grounded to short.

The Diamondbacks answered back in the top of the third. Blaze Alexander led off with a homer to left-center off Rangers starter Jack Leiter.

The Rangers regained the lead in the top of the third. Kyle Higashioka drew a leadoff walk and Josh Smith followed with a single up the middle. Corey Seager reached on a fielder’s choice that advanced Higashioka to third.

Up next was Marcus Semien, who plated Higashioka with a sacrifice fly to center.

The Diamondbacks tied it again in the top of the seventh against reliever Robert Garcia.

Jose Herrera led off with a single back to the mound and he advanced to second on a throwing error by Garcia.

Herrera moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Perdomo, who reached on a fielding error by Josh Jung at third.

On deck was Marte, who plated Herrera with a single that eluded Semien at second.

The Diamondbacks took a 3–2 lead in the top of the ninth off reliever Danny Coulombe.

Geraldo Perdomo led off by striking out on a foul tip. D-backs manager Torey Lovullo took exception with the call, he was ejected by home plate umpire Nate Tomlinson.

That brought Marte to the plate. On a 1–2 pitch from Coulombe, Marte connected and sent one deep to left to break the tie.

What Went Right for the Diamondbacks

Much like the Rangers on Monday, the Diamondbacks pulled off a comeback win in this one. Marte’s homer was instrumental in this game for the visiting nine. Marte also drove in the tying run with his single in the seventh.

What Went Wrong for the Diamondbacks

Although they weren’t scored in spectacular fashion, the Diamondbacks gave up two runs. The first was on the groundout to short by Garcia that scored Pederson and the sacrifice fly by Semien that plated Higashioka.

Leiter’s Tough Start

Rangers right-hander Jack Leiter took a no-decision despite allowing one earned run over 5.0 innings. His line was 4 H, 2 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR, 91 pitches/58 strikes. Leiter retired six of the first seven batters he faced over the first two innings before yielding the solo shot to Alexander in the third – an inning in which he needed 31 pitches to complete, but stranded the bases loaded with just the one run allowed.

He posted two three-up, three-down frames and exited the contest with a 2–1 lead but was removed from the decision after Garcia gave up the game-tying run in the seventh.

After surrendering the go-ahead homer to Marte, Coulombe was saddled with the loss. He now owns a record of 2–1 with an ERA of 1.23.

DeSclafani’s Outing

Diamondbacks starter Anthony DeSclafani made his 4th start, and 11th appearance of 2025 (ND, 3.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R-ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 52 pitches/29 strikes. His 52 pitches were the fewest in his four starts this year.

While he yielded three singles and two walks, DeSclafani held the Rangers to an 0-for-6 clip with runners in scoring position and stranded four runners.

Lefty Jalen Beeks earned the win after tossing an inning and two-thirds. He issued one free pass and struck out one. His record now sits at 3–1 with an ERA of 3.94.

Reliever Juan Morillo pitched a spotless ninth to earn the first save of his career.

Bochy’s Postgame Comments

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy was visibly angry after the game as he was short and sweet in his time with members of the media. “We’ve got to swing the bats. Come on,” he said, “That was one of our worst games. We were bad tonight. No getting around it. We had our chances. The pitching did a good job. Our defense got shaky in that one inning. But you gotta be allowed to give up a couple of runs. We were just not good tonight.”