ARLINGTON — Lefty Patrick Corbin turned in another workmanlike — and at times, dominant — performance in the Rangers’ 8-3 victory over the Rockies on Wednesday night. With nine strikeouts in six innings, along with help from a quick-striking Rangers offense, Corbin helped clinch a three-game sweep of the series at Globe Life Field.
The Rangers have won five in a row, tied for their longest winning streak of the season, and at 23-21, are now two games above .500 for the first time since April 29. The streak deserves a tiny asterisk, given that the Rockies (7-36) have lost more games in the first 43 games of a season than anyone else since the Modern Era of baseball began in 1900. But Corbin has been solid against winning teams lately, too.
Corbin allowed three earned runs Wednesday and has now yielded a total of six earned runs in his past three starts, for a 2.89 ERA in 18 2/3 innings over that span. The Rangers lost the first two of those, against the Mariners and Tigers, but this time Corbin had more than a little run support.
The Rangers scored four runs in the first inning, with the first five Texas batters reaching via base hits. The most damaging of those was Wyatt Langford’s two-run homer after Josh Smith led off with a single; Joc Pederson, Adolis García and Marcus Semien then loaded the bases with successive singles. Two more runs scored on a walk and a fielder’s choice before Rockies starter Antonio Senzatela induced a double play to escape the inning.
Jake Burger doubled home a run in the fifth and García hit a two-run homer to right in the sixth to give the thin Texas bullpen some insurance. Two of the Rangers’ highest-leverage, late-inning relievers, Luke Jackson and Chris Martin, left the previous two nights’ games in the ninth inning with injuries, and neither was available to pitch Wednesday.
