Rangers walk it off in bottom of 9th to beat Pirates, win series

Before Wednesday afternoon against the Texas Rangers, Domingo German last started an MLB game July 25, 2023.

That was as a result of his time (2017-19, 2021-23) with the New York Yankees coming to an end in the aftermath of multiple suspensions, as well as on-field struggles.

So, it’d probably be fair to say the Pittsburgh Pirates, who called up German from Triple-A Indianapolis on Aug. 9, sent him to the mound at Globe Life Field with measured expectations.

German was a pleasant surprise, tossing six scoreless innings, but the Pirates fell 1-0 on a walk-off RBI single by Wyatt Langford in the bottom of the ninth in the rubber match of their three-game series.

David Bednar (3-6, 5.68) was the losing pitcher, taking over in the ninth.

After allowing back-to-back singles to begin the final frame, Bednar nearly recovered, getting Nathaniel Lowe to line out before striking out Josh Jung.

But with men on second and third, Langford connected on a 2-1 curveball to deliver the game’s only run.

German took a no-decision, allowing three hits with four walks and four strikeouts.

“For him to give us six innings was outstanding,” manager Derek Shelton said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “… He really did a good job of keeping (Texas) off-balance.”

Offensively, the Pirates (59-67) did him few favors, going 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position, leaving 10 men on base and striking out 16 times.

The Pirates loaded the bases in the second and fifth inning but came up empty.

“Extremely frustrating,” Shelton said. “We had opportunities — 10 guys left on base, had the bases loaded twice. We just didn’t get the hit that we needed to break the game open. You can’t expect to win a game when you leave 10 guys on base.

“We have to have better at-bats, and we have to put the ball in play because 16 strikeouts doesn’t give us an opportunity to score runs.”

In the second, Yasmani Grandal, who went 2 for 4, could not produce a hit at the opportune time, as he grounded into an inning-ending double play to erase a solid scoring chance.

Then, in the fifth, Grandal and Bryan Reynolds singled and Joey Bart was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

After Michael A. Taylor struck out and Isiah Kiner-Falefa lined out, Connor Joe struck out for the final out.

Joe was 0 for 3, striking out in each at-bat.

Both scoring chances came against Rangers starter Andrew Heaney, who struck out eight with a walk and five hits over five innings.

In the eighth, the Pirates had runners on second and third, but Jared Triolo flew out to end the frame.

German put out a fire in the first inning after walking a pair, and he settled down from there.

In the fifth, he walked another two batters but induced an inning-ending double play from Marcus Semien.

German threw 46 of his 75 pitches for strikes in his first start and fourth outing with the Pirates.

“Very pleased with my outing today,” German said through Pirates assistant coach and translator Stephen Morales. “Especially after the year of not being able to start a game. I felt really good out there and really relaxed.”

Aside from Bednar, the Pirates got good outings from the rest of their relievers.

Kyle Nicolas (2.78 ERA) struck out two in a scoreless seventh, and Aroldis Chapman (3.21 ERA) struck out the side in the eighth.