ARLINGTON -- Toward the end of each of his first three starts this season, Rangers starter Kumar Rocker couldn’t seem to catch a break. So Tuesday, Evan Carter caught one for him.
Carter made a sensational, leaping grab at the wall in left-center field to rob Pirates star Oneil Cruz of a would-be, go-ahead, three-run homer with two outs in the fifth inning of a 5-1 Rangers win at Globe Life Field.
For Rocker, that small bit of luck -- or more accurately, Carter’s skill -- was enough to earn the righty his first victory of the season. Rocker was the only member of the Rangers’ rotation who hadn’t recorded an out past the fifth inning in 2026, but he breezed through the sixth after Carter’s catch Tuesday, with the help of three insurance runs from the Rangers’ offense immediately after that play.
Rocker had perhaps been better this season than his stats suggested, entering Tuesday with an 0-1 record and a 4.30 ERA. But his previous outing, an April 15 no-decision on the road against the Athletics, was his least polished, as he walked four and allowed two earned runs on four hits in only 4 2/3 innings.
Rocker nearly went bust again Tuesday with a middle-middle, 95.1 mph sinker to Cruz, who appeared certain to tie for the Pirates’ team lead with his seventh homer. Instead, Carter tracked the ball down and leapt at the wall, reeling in a 399-foot flyout from the visitors’ bullpen.
Cruz scored the game’s first run in the first inning, leading off with a single, advancing to third on a throwing error as he stole second and scoring on a Ryan O’Hearn single. But Carter tied the game with an RBI single in the second and Josh Smith put the Rangers ahead 2-1 with a sacrifice fly later that inning.