Seager, Rangers Blank Rays in Series Opener

Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

September 3, 2026

Rangers 6, Rays 0

ARLINGTON, Texas (Sep 3) — The Texas Rangers struck first in their four-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays, beating them, 6–0, in the opener Thursday. Corey Seager delivered one quarter of the offense with a two-run homer in the fifth inning. The Rangers will try to make it two straight against the Rays Friday night with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 pm Central at Globe Life Field. Right-handers Nick Martinez (13–4, 2.99 ERA) and Kumar Rocker (5–10, 4.44 ERA) will go head-to-head in that game.

Seager Goes Deep

Both teams traded zeroes for the first three and a half innings. The Rangers broke tension in the bottom of the fourth against lefty Shane McClanahan. A one-out double to left by Wyatt Langford brought up Brandon Nimmo, who grounded to second. Langford scored from third shortly after on a single to left by Justin Foscue.

The Rangers piled on three more in the bottom of the fifth. Logan O’Hoppe led off with a sharp single to left. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt to first baseman Jonathan Aranda by Cody Freeman. After Elias Diaz grounded to third, Ezequiel Duran brought O’Hoppe home with a single to right. With Seager up to bat, Duran moved into scoring position with his 11th stolen base of the year. On a 2–2 pitch, Seager blasted one eight rows deep into right for his 14th home run of the season.

The lead stretched to 6–0 in the bottom of the eighth off reliever Casey Legumina. He opened the inning by allowing a free pass to Langford and striking out Nimmo on a foul tip. That brought up Evan Carter, who entered as a pinch-hitter for Foscue in the sixth. Langford crossed the plate on a triple by Carter that rattled around in the corner in right. Moments later, Jake Burger brought Carter home with a sacrifice fly to left.

What Went Right for the Rangers

The Rangers made the most of their opportunities in the bottom of the fifth. O’Hoppe’s liner to first helped set the table for Freeman, who bunted O’Hoppe to second. Duran came through with RBI single and Seager’s bomb gave them the breathing room needed to take the opener of this series. Carter made a nice contribution with his RBI triple as did Burger with his sacrifice fly to plate Carter.

What Went Wrong for the Rangers

The Rangers put together a 3-for-9 night with runners in scoring position. The only thing they could have done even more of was score.

Seven Scoreless Innings for Quantrill

Rangers starter Cal Quantrill coasted through seven scoreless stanzas to earn his seventh win of the year, improving his record to 7–5 with a 2.79 ERA. His line was 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 95 pitches/61 strikes. In his 12th start of the year, Quantrill had traffic on the basepaths in only two of his seven frames. He ceded a pair of two-out singles in the third but stranded the runners, then navigated through a two-walk seventh inning by inducing an side-retiring fly-out from Jorge Mateo. In two starts versus the Rays this year, Quantrill is 2–0 with a 0.73 ERA. He lowered his career ERA against the Rays to 1.77.

McClanahan’s Evening

Rays starter Shane McClanahan took the loss Thursday. He is now 10–7 after allowing four runs, all earned, over five innings. His line was 6 H, 1 BB, 3 K, 72 pitches/49 strikes. Thursday marked his first start in September since 9/25/22 versus the Toronto Blue Jays. He missed parts of the previous three seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery. McClanahan opened his outing Thursday with three scoreless innings before yielding one run in the fourth and three in the fifth.

With two outs Thursday, Rangers hitters were 3-for-7 against McClanahan, who entered play allowing a .178 opponent batting average with two outs, the eighth-lowest such BAA in the AL. The southpaw’s three strikeouts in this contest brought his career total to 562, tying Chris Archer for the fourth-most strikeouts by a Rays pitcher within his first four major league seasons.

Schumaker’s Postgame Comments

After the game, Rangers manager Skip Schumaker elaborated how important opening this series with a win is. “We faced one of the top pitchers in the game,” he said. “What Cal (Quantrill) provided today was incredible. Seven innings, two hits, I think it ended up being. His fastball was really working at the top. He threw the split off of it. Everything was working. It was so fun to watch. Really incredible night for him. It was a good win in a four-game set against a really good team, and we need every win we can get.”