With the roof closed, the 28,396 in attendance sounded as if 60,000 were there to watch their Rangers, dressed in their City Connect uniforms — white shirts and black pants that made them look like the Arlington Dry Cleaners softball team.
An eighth-inning home run by Marcus Semien off Reds relief pitcher Lucas Sims broke a 1-1 tie, the difference in a pitcher’s duel.
It spoiled a workmanlike pitching performance by Reds starter Graham Ashcraft. He pitched 6 1/3 innings and held the defending World Series champions to one run and seven hits.
The one run was a first-pitch home run by Evan Carter, leading off the second inning.
The Reds had chance after chance after chance against Texas starter Nate Eovaldi. He walked five batters in his six innings, but the Reds left runners on base in five of his six innings.
They left seven men on base and were 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position.
Cincinnati’s only run came in the first inning and was accomplished without a hit, thanks to a pair of walks by Eovadi.
With one out, he walked Elly De La Cruz and walked Spencer Steer on a full count. De La Cruz took third on a fly ball to right for the second out.
Steer broke for second on a pitch and catcher Jonah Heim threw the ball into center field and De La Cruz trotted home.
Instead of a throwing error by Heim, Steer was credited with a stolen base and De La Cruz was credited with a steal of home.
Eovaldi then issued his third walk of the inning, this one to Tyler Stephenson. And he swiped second, the second steal of his career.
That put runners on third and second with two outs and Jonathan India grounded out.
Steer singled with two outs in the third, ending a 0 for 18 skid, but Christian Encarnacion-Strand grounded out.
India was 1-for-33 with 18 strikeouts on the road this season when he singled with one out in the fourth. Jeimer Candelario struck out and Santiago Espinal grounded out.
Eovaldi walked two in the fifth, with De La Cruz stealing second before the two-out walk to Steer. It was De La Cruz’s league-leading 17th steal.
Eovaldi, though, completed striking out the side by whiffing Encarnacion-Strand, enmeshed in a 0 for 12 skid.
The Reds had one more crack at Eovaldi in the sixth when India reached on a one-out infield hit. Both Candelario and Espinal grounded into fielder’s choice.
Eovaldi’s line was six innings, one run, three hits, five walks and eight strikeouts.
The Reds did not get a man on base against the Texas bullpen. Kent State University product Jacob Latz pitched a 1-2-3 seventh, Jose LeClerc pitched a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts and closer Kirby Yates pitched a 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts.
With two outs in the ninth, Reds manager David Bell sent Nick Martinez (2 for 25) to bat for Espinal and he flied weakly to right field to end it.
Sims entered the game in the seventh after Josh H. Smith doubled with one out against Ashcraft. Sims struck out Wyatt Langford and retired Heim on a deep fly to center, preserving the 1-1 tie.
Bell sent Sims back out for the eighth and Semien, the first batter, pulled his game-winning home run down the left field line.
It was Cincinnati’s first trip to Arllington, Texas, since 2016 and the first appearance in Globe Life, a roofed palace that cost $1.2 billion. A year ago, the Rangers visited Cincinnati on their way to the World Series and the Reds swept three games.
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