The Texas Rangers waited until September for their first grand slam of the season, and Elias Díaz delivered it with the tying run still sitting in the dugout.
Díaz lined a 1-2 slider just over the left-field fence in the seventh inning Friday night at Globe Life Field, clearing the bases after Garrett Cleavinger walked Cody Freeman and turning a four-run deficit into a one-run game. The Associated Press called it Díaz's fourth career grand slam and the Rangers' first of 2026.
He added a sacrifice fly in the ninth that trimmed Tampa Bay's lead to a single run, finishing with five RBI in a 7-6 loss that left Texas three games behind Houston in the American League West.
ESPN's box lists Díaz 1-for-3 with a run, five RBI, his seventh home run, and the sacrifice fly, batting .233/.267/.407. The night was not enough: Justin Foscue popped out with the tying run at third after the sacrifice fly, and Tyler Wells closed for his sixth save.
From 0-1 to a four-run hole
Ezequiel Durán had given Texas the early edge with a 419-foot solo homer to center in the second, his 17th of the year. Tampa Bay answered in a hurry. Jonathan Aranda homered in the third and Richard Palacios went deep in the fourth, flipping the score to 2-1 before a four-run fifth buried Kumar Rocker.
Yandy Díaz, Aranda, and Junior Caminero all doubled in that fifth, Victor Mesa Jr. drove in a run, and Cedric Mullins' double-play grounder scored Mesa. The Rays put up 001 140 001 on the board and finished with 12 hits and no errors. Texas managed seven hits and committed one error, a fielding miscue by Evan Carter.
Rocker (5-11) worked behind two openers and absorbed the Aranda and Palacios homers plus the four-run fifth. Nick Martinez (14-4) answered with 6.1 innings, five hits, and three runs in his first appearance as an opponent at the ballpark where his major-league career began before a Japan stint, the AP noted.
Late push, short finish
Jake Burger reached base four times (1-for-1 with three walks and two runs), and Corey Seager went 2-for-4 without an RBI. When Cleavinger issued the free pass to Freeman with the bases already occupied in the seventh, Díaz did not miss.
