Mets 7, Rangers 2: Semien, Then Baty's Slam

Perfect through four, then a ninth that ended the argument

September 23, 2026 - Arlington - Nolan McLean retired the first 12 Rangers. The roof was closed at Globe Life Field. The crowd was 30,188. Texas is playing for October and still could not put a runner on until the fifth. Then the Mets, already out of the race, left town with a 7-2 win that the Rangers will replay as the night their West race slipped another inch.

The New York Mets beat the Texas Rangers in 2 hours, 29 minutes. New York had eight hits and no errors. Texas had four hits and one error. First pitch 7:08 p.m. Seventy-four degrees inside.

Juan Soto hit his 27th in the third, a two-run fly to right-center that scored Francisco Lindor. 2-0. Soto finished 1-for-2 with three intentional walks, two runs, and two RBI. Texas walked him on purpose three times and still watched him score on the slam that finished it.

The fifth was Texas. The eighth was Semien.

McLean (12-10) was perfect until Brandon Nimmo led off the fifth with a single. Jake Burger singled Nimmo home. 2-1. Evan Carter's forceout scored Burger. 2-2. Five Rangers reached in that inning. McLean got through it, then went back to retiring people. He finished seven: three hits, two earned, one walk, five strikeouts, 82 pitches, 52 strikes. Every inning except the fifth was clean.

"We just couldn't get anything going," manager Skip Schumaker said. "There is definitely frustration because they know they're better than what they've shown the last couple nights."

Cody Bradford lasted 4 1/3: four hits, two earned, no walks, one strikeout, 68 pitches. Schumaker went to Tyler Alexander, Chase Silseth, and Jacob Latz (3-4) because the West is that thin. Latz had two outs in the eighth when Marcus Semien hit his 15th, a fly to left-center against the club that used to pay him. 3-2.

Devin Williams threw a 1-2-3 eighth, one strikeout, 13 pitches, his first hold. The ninth was the inning Texas did not have an answer for. Robert Garcia was unavailable. Jordan Montgomery and Trevor Williams inherited a one-run game. Nick Morabito reached. Soto was on. Bo Bichette was on. Brett Baty pinch-hit and hit a grand slam to right-center, his 11th, a Statcast-projected 455-foot ball. 7-2.

Baty went 1-for-1. Mark Vientos had started at first and gone 0-for-4. Baty's only swing of the night was the one that turned a one-run spoiler into a rout.

Four hits, and Seager still looking for one

Texas has four games left. The Rangers and Astros entered Wednesday tied atop the American League West. Both lost. They stayed tied at 78-80. Houston owns the tiebreaker. Texas has to finish one game better than Houston the rest of the way and win its own games first.

Corey Seager went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. He is 0-for-13 in a three-game losing streak. Wyatt Langford went 0-for-4. Ezequiel Duran went 0-for-4. Josh Jung singled. Nicky Lopez singled. Danny Jansen walked. Carter drove in a run and stole a base and did not get a hit. The Rangers were hitless from the fifth inning Tuesday through the fifth inning Wednesday.

"Frustration," Burger said. "Again, it sucks. We have to play perfectly the rest of the way. Obviously, we don't want to be in this situation where we're at now. But we have to go out there and try and get four wins and start tomorrow."

Schumaker called it must-win time. He is not wrong. The Mets are 73-85 and already eliminated. They still had Soto, Semien, McLean, and a pinch-hitter who only needed one pitch to end the night.

Lindor went 1-for-5 and scored. Francisco Alvarez went 2-for-4. A.J. Ewing singled and walked. Carson Benge went 0-for-5. The Mets did not need a 12-hit night. They needed one homer in the third, one in the eighth, and one in the ninth.

Cionel Pérez threw a scoreless ninth. Texas put one more runner on and left him there.

A spoiler with four games still on the Texas calendar

New York leaves Arlington with a series it was not supposed to decide. Texas stays home and has to win tomorrow because scoreboard watching does not add a win. Seager said short-term memory. Burger said four wins. McLean just kept throwing strikes until the lineup finished it.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put New York at 15 team fantasy points, third on the slate. McLean had 22 pitching FP, first among pitchers. Soto had 11 hitting FP. Baty had 9. Texas finished at minus-4.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: ESPN recap and box score, MLB.com Gameday wrap, MLB.com schedule, and AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*