Rangers Lose to Mets, Still Tied For AL West Lead

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

September 24, 2026

Mets 7, Rangers 2

ARLINGTON, Texas (Sep 23) — The Texas Rangers lost their second straight game to the New York Mets, 7–2, Wednesday evening. Brett Baty powered the Mets to the series win with a ninth-inning grand slam. With this loss, the Rangers remain in a tie for first in the AL West with the Houston Astros, 6–5 losers to the Seattle Mariners in extra innings on Wednesday. The Rangers will aim to salvage this three-game set Thursday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 1:35 pm Central. Left-hander Zac Thornton (5–5, 3.40 ERA) will get the ball for the Mets, and the Rangers will start Kumar Rocker (5–11, 4.47 ERA).

Rangers — Mets Game Summary

The Mets got on the board in the top of the third with lefty Cody Bradford pitching. A two-out single up the middle by Francisco Lindor brought up Juan Soto, who smashed a no-doubter to right-center on an 0–1 pitch. It was his 27th home run of the season.

The Rangers tied it up in the bottom of the fifth against righty Nolan McLean. Brandon Nimmo opened the frame with a single to right. He advanced 90 feet on a groundout to second by Ezequiel Duran. Up next was Jake Burger, who drove in Nimmo with a single to left. Burger moved to second thanks to a single to left by Nicky Lopez. On deck was Danny Jansen, who drew a walk after an unsuccessful ABS challenge by Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez. Burger scored on a 4–6 force play grounded into by Evan Carter.

The Mets took a 3–2 lead in the top of the eighth against reliever Jacob Latz. Marcus Semien sent a solo wall scraper to left-center on a 2–0 pitch for his 15th homer of the year.

Baty’s Big Moment

The Mets opened it up in the top of the ninth against reliever Jordan Montgomery. Nick Morabito reached on a one-out single. He moved to second on a 2–3 groundout by Lindor. Montgomery gave the intentional walk to Soto before manager Skip Schumaker brought in Trevor Williams to relieve Montgomery.

Bo Bichette walked to load the bases, bringing up Baty as a pinch-hitter for Mark Vientos. On a 2–1 pitch, he stretched the lead to 7–2 with a grand slam to right-center. It was his 11th long ball of the season and the second grand slam of his career. It was the 12th pinch-hit grand slam in Mets history, first since Tyrone Taylor on April 11, 2024 at the Atlanta Braves (Stathead).

What Went Right for the Mets

The Mets chose power over contact to win on Wednesday. Rangers fans don’t get to see Soto play very often. Even though he has been hurt most of the season, he still found a way to impress a lot of the home crowd of 30,180 with his bomb in the third. There was a healthy mix of cheers and jeers when it happened. Likewise for Semien’s home run in the eighth. Many people had mixed feelings of seeing him go yard in a Mets uniform as opposed to the Rangers threads.

Baty’s grand slam didn’t have the same effect, as there was more hostility that came from the crowd in that instance.

What Went Wrong for the Mets

The Mets had a couple of problems in the fifth when Burger hit his RBI single and when Carter drove in Burger by grounding into the force play.

Short Night for Bradford

Rangers starter Cody Bradford allowed two runs, both earned, across 4 1/3 innings in a no-decision. The rest of his line was 4 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 HR, 68 pitches/50 strikes. Bradford faced the Mets’ batting order twice. They were 0-for-9 during the first pass before going 4-for-9 the next time through, including the two-run home run from Soto in the third.

Bradford departed with two men on and one out in the fifth, but Tyler Alexander stranded his bequeathed runners. Bradford received no offensive support while he was on the mound, as the Rangers have supplied him with two or fewer runs of support in seven straight starts since August 11. The Rangers are 0–7 in those games.

After yielding the Semien homer, Latz shouldered the loss, bringing his record to 3–4 with an ERA of 2.15. He pitched an inning and two-thirds, surrendering one earned run on one hit and one walk while striking out two.

Seven Innings for McLean

Mets starter Nolan McLean picked up his team-leading 12th victory of the season. He is now 12–10 after tossing seven innings of two-run ball. Additionally, it was his 20th Quality Start out of 31 — by far the most QS on the team (Thornton is second, with eight). This means 65% of McLean’s starts have been Quality Starts, fourth in the NL behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto (79%), Chris Sale (70%), and Cristopher Sanchez (66%).

McLean had a line of 3 H, 1 BB, 5 K, 82 pitches. He became only the third rookie Mets hurler since the turn of the century with 12 or more wins in a season behind Dillon Gee (13 in 2011) and Kodai Senga (12 in 2023). McLean twirled four perfect innings to open the game before running into trouble in the fifth when he allowed four of his first five batters to reach.

Schumaker’s Postgame Comments

After the game, Schumaker broke down the reality that the Rangers are facing at this time. “They know what’s at stake,” he said of his team. “All 162 are big games, but obviously right now with where we’re at in the race, we have to win games. We can’t just scoreboard watch. We have to win our games to give ourselves a real shot at this.

“These are must-win games,” he continued. “That’s just the reality of it. It’s not anything short of that. It is must-win time. We have to stay as positive as we can, as frustrating as it is tonight, and as frustrating as it was last night. We have to come back quickly tomorrow and do whatever we can to win and to give ourselves a shot. That’s just the reality.”