Reds Edge Rangers in Middle Game

Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images

April 4, 2026

Reds 2, Rangers 0

ARLINGTON, Texas (Apr 4) — The Texas Rangers lost a close one to the Cincinnati Reds, 2–0, Saturday night in front of a respectable crowd of 36,393. RBI singles by Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart provided all the offense the Reds needed to secure the series win. The Rangers, meanwhile, will try to avoid the sweep Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Chase Burns will get the ball for the Reds, while righty Jack Leiter will take the hill for the Rangers. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 pm Central at Globe Life Field.

Quick Start for Reds

The Reds got on the board almost immediately in the top of the first against Rangers starter Kumar Rocker. With one out, Matt McLain ripped a single to left. The sound it made echoed up to the press box at Globe Life Field. A wild pitch from Rocker to De La Cruz advanced McLain to second.

Moments later, De La Cruz drove in McLain with a single of his own that rolled out to center. Stewart followed suit with the Reds’ third consecutive single. This one went to right, scoring De La Cruz in the process.

What Went Right for the Reds

The Reds were able to win Saturday by keeping the ball on the ground. The RBI singles by De La Cruz and McLain were enough to deny the Rangers of their first win in their home ballpark in 2026.

What Went Wrong for the Reds

One of the only things that would have made Saturday’s game even more fruitful for the Reds was if they scored more runs. They faced some decent pitching by Rocker as well as the rest of the Rangers’ staff.

Tough Luck for Rocker

Rangers starter Kumar Rocker took the loss Saturday in his season debut despite tossing five innings of two-run ball. His final line was 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R-ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 80 pitches/52 strikes. After allowing the pair of RBI singles in the first, Rocker settled in to pitch four scoreless frames. He limited the Reds to one hit (1-for-7) with runners in scoring position. He concluded his outing by working out of a runner-on-third, no-out jam in the fifth. Rocker also induced a groundout from De La Cruz before striking out Stewart and Eugenio Suárez to keep the deficit at 2–0.

Lowder Goes Six

Reds right-hander Rhett Lowder twirled six scoreless stanzas en route to his first victory of 2026. He had a line of 3 H, 2 BB, 4 SO, 82 pitches/54 strikes. The lone hits he allowed were a trio of two-out singles in his first two frames. Lowder retired 12 of the final 13 hitters he faced after issuing a leadoff walk to Brandon Nimmo to begin the third inning. He boasts a 1.30 ERA in his first eight career major league outings, the lowest ERA by a Reds hurler through his first eight career starts since the earned run became an official stat in 1913. The next best was Tom Browning, who had a 1.52 ERA in 1984-85, which was the best mark by any pitcher through eight career starts (excluding openers) since Shota Imanaga of the Chicago Cubs in 2024.

Skip’s Comments

After the game, Rangers manager Skip Schumaker addressed members of the media and gave his take on the Rangers’ night. “We just had a few pitches that we weren’t able to capitalize on,” he said. There were some runners left in scoring position that we didn’t do anything with tonight. Their defense played good and this was just one of those games, as cliche as it is, where you have no choice but to tip your cap to your opponent.”