ARLINGTON, Texas – Nathaniel Lowe hit a game-ending RBI single with one out in the ninth inning and the AL West-leading Texas Rangers extended their winning streak to four games with a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night.
Marcus Semien, who had already extended his majors-best hitting streak to 24 games with two hits, had a one-out walk in the ninth off Génesis Cabrera (1-1). Semien scored the winning run when Lowe hit an opposite-field grounder through the left side of the infield.
Corey Seager had followed Semien with a single, a popup to shallow left field that third baseman Nolan Arenado chased down but was unable to catch.
Rangers closer Will Smith (1-2) worked a scoreless ninth for the victory.
The Cardinals, who have lost four straight, tied the game in the eighth after loading the bases with no outs against rookie reliever Grant Anderson. Some botched baserunning cost them a chance to take the lead after Paul Goldschmidt’s sacrifice fly.
Arenado then had a drive to deep left, though the two base runners were close to each other when the ball ricocheted off the wall as left fielder Ezequiel Duran slammed into it. Nolan Gorman scored the tying run but when Tommy Edman retreated toward third after making the turn, Arenado was sliding into the base. Edman got tagged out and Arenado slammed his helmet near the plate after Willson Contreras‘ inning-ending grounder.
Semien’s streak-stretching hit was an RBI single that put the Rangers up 3-1 in the second, when he was the third consecutive batter to drive in a run off Adam Wainwright. The inning began with back-to-back singles by Jonah Heim and Mitch Garver before Duran’s RBI double and an RBI groundout by Leody Taveras.
The 24-game hitting streak for Semien is the longest in the majors this season and the longest in his career. The Rangers’ franchise record is 28, set in 2000 by Gabe Kapler, now the manager of the San Francisco Giants.
St. Louis got an unearned run in the second when Contreras reached on a two-base error after right fielder Adolis Garcia dropped a flyball and scored on a single by Paul DeJong.
FOR STARTERS
Rangers starter Martín Pérez allowed one unearned run over seven innings. The left-hander struck out five, walked one and allowed only three singles. The 41-year-old Wainwright gave up three runs and eight hits while throwing a season-high 106 pitches (64 strikes) over 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander hasn’t pitched past the sixth inning in any of his six starts, but has gone at least five innings in all of them, since missing the first 33 games this season because of a groin injury sustained during the World Baseball Classic.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cardinals: OF Dylan Carson (left ankle) will begin a rehab assignment Tuesday with Triple-A Memphis. He has been out since twisting his ankle May 14 against Boston.
Rangers: Transferred RHP Jacob deGrom (right elbow inflammation) from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day IL, and activated RHP Spencer Howard from the 60-day IL. … RHP Jonathan Hernández was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock.
UP NEXT
RHP Dane Dunning (4-1, 2.06 ERA) makes his sixth start since filling in deGrom’s spot in the rotation. Dunning is 2-1 with 2.28 ERA in that span. Lefty Matthew Liberatore (1-1, 4.91) will be on the mound Tuesday night for the Cardinals.
