Rangers’ bats dominate Diamondbacks in Game 4 win as Texas nears first World

PHOENIX — On the first day of December 2021, hours before the owners of Major League Baseball locked out the players, the Texas Rangers orchestrated a series of press conferences to introduce their new $500 million middle infield. Marcus Semien and Corey Seager both left contenders to sign with a franchise that had not posted a winning record in five seasons. The money influenced their decision. And so — the players said — did the vision put forth by Rangers officials.

“We’ve laid it out, we’ve been authentic, we’ve been very transparent,” Texas general manager Chris Young said that day. “We were a 102-loss team. We haven’t run from that. But we have a vision, we have a plan, and this is how we’re going to accomplish it. Does this scare you? Are you afraid? Do you want to be part of this? You want to do something special that’s never been done in Texas Ranger history?”

History is almost upon them, after an 11-7 thrashing of the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday. The Rangers are one victory from capturing their first championship. The trajectory did not follow a straight line. Texas lost more than they won in 2022, a skid serious enough that owner Ray Davis fired manager Chris Woodward and longtime head of baseball operations Jon Daniels. But Young remained. So did Semien and Seager, who steadied this club all summer and powered the Texas offense in Tuesday’s laugher at Chase Field.

Semien supplied a two-run triple in the second and a three-run homer in the third. In between, Seager clobbered a two-run home run. The Rangers obliterated Arizona’s attempt at running a bullpen game. Texas hung a five-spot on assorted Diamondbacks relievers in the second and scored five more runs in the third. The lineup appeared unfazed by the loss of budding star outfielder Adolis García. His replacement, Travis Jankowski, kept the second-inning rally going with a single and cracked a two-run double in the third.

Texas starter Andrew Heaney authored five innings of one-run baseball. He protected the Rangers bullpen for Game 5. It will be a rematch between Arizona starter Zac Gallen and Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi. The Rangers will now have three chances to collect one more victory, the one that eluded the club the last time it reached this stage, against St. Louis in 2011. Those Rangers were one strike away on two separate occasions. The series left scars. This group can offset some of that hurt, suggested former Rangers third baseman Adrián Beltré earlier this series.

“I’m going to feel like it’s a little weight off of us, because we didn’t get it done and those guys did it for us,” Beltré said. “So I’ll be super happy about it.”

Texas spent the afternoon refurbishing its roster. The Rangers won Game 3 but lost two high-profile players to injury. Max Scherzer, the three-time Cy Young award winner, suffered back spasms. García, the outfielder recently crowned MVP of the…