Semien breaks tie against Rangers before Baty's slam seals Mets win

Texas came back from a two-run deficit Wednesday night, but former Ranger Marcus Semien put the Mets ahead for good with a solo homer in the eighth inning. Brett Baty's pinch-hit grand slam in the ninth then turned a close game into a 7-2 New York win at Globe Life Field.

Juan Soto opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the third. Texas answered in the fifth: Jake Burger singled home Brandon Nimmo, and Evan Carter's force out brought Burger around to tie it 2-2. Rangers starter Cody Bradford lasted 4 1/3 innings and allowed the two early runs. Nolan McLean kept the Mets in the game with seven innings of two-run, four-hit pitching and five strikeouts.

The decisive swing came in the eighth. Semien hit his 15th homer, a solo shot off Jacob Latz, to break the tie against the club he previously played for. The Associated Press and MLB's game log agree on the sequence. MLB's official game video shows the homer and the later ninth-inning blow. MLB's official September 23 full-game highlights show the key plays from this matchup.

New York loaded the bases in the ninth, and Baty, entering as a pinch hitter, hit his 11th homer for four runs. That margin obscures how long Texas stayed close: the Rangers had tied the game in the fifth and trailed by only one entering the final inning. They managed four hits and left only three runners on base.

The Mets have won the first two games of the series. Texas fell to 78-80, and the late-season loss narrows its remaining path. Thursday's finale offers the Rangers one more chance to avoid a sweep, but Wednesday's game was decided by a familiar hitter's eighth-inning swing and a pinch hitter's finish.