24-25 – Rangers shine late to leave gloomy Colorado with series win

DENVER, CO - MAY 20: Starting pitcher Kyle Freeland #21 of the Colorado Rockies delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Texas Rangers at Coors Field on May 20, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) | Getty Images The Texas Rangers scored five runs but the Colorado Rockies scored four runs. In a very the-Rangers-are-quite-strange kind of way, the club almost lost a second consecutive series to a league-worst team despite outscoring them.

The Rangers have outscored their opponents 30-17 on their current road trip, but were a couple of outs away from a second consecutive series loss, this time to the now 19-31 Rockies. After outscoring the Astros nine runs to six, the Rangers outscored Colorado 21-11 in this series only to trail 4-3 into the ninth in the day’s rubber match. Without the ninth inning rally, Texas would have been staring at a most depressing result in the chilly spring drizzle in the Rocky Mountains.

Thankfully, the sun is now shining as the Rangers scored two in the ninth to grab the series. For a while there was worry as the Rangers fell back on old habits with Jack Leiter allowing a two-out RBI single in the first inning after an easy 1-2-3 top of the frame from the Texas bats. Nevertheless, another early deficit was put behind them when the Rangers had a spurt of scoring in the top of the fourth with Ezequiel Duran and Jake Burger hit back-to-back home runs.

Duran’s dong was of the two-run variety and Burger’s gave the Rangers a 3-1 lead with Leiter seemingly settling in. But Leiter’s stuff seemed down even as he got through the next few innings unscathed after the first. In the bottom of the fourth, his command abandoned him completely and he walked in a run.