Freddie Freeman drove home Will Smith with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly to back Tyler Glasnow and six relievers as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Texas Rangers 1-0 on Sunday in the rubber game of the three-game interleague series in Arlington, Texas.
Freeman’s RBI flyout to left field came with runners at the corners and one out in the eighth to score Smith, who provided a pinch-hit single to start the inning. Reliever Chris Martin (0-3) surrendered the run.
Ben Casparius (2-0), the fourth of seven Dodgers pitchers, retired all five batters he faced in the sixth and seventh. Tanner Scott worked around Wyatt Langford’s leadoff single in the ninth to claim his eighth save. Langford was thrown out trying to steal second to end the game.
Mahle and Glasnow hooked up in a pitchers’ duel, but neither stuck around for the decision that was determined by the teams’ respective bullpens.
Glasnow was lifted after one pitch in the fifth inning due to an injured right ankle. He had been examined by the Dodgers’ trainer in the fourth after recording his fifth strikeout of the game. Glasnow surrendered three hits in four innings while striking out six. His status was not disclosed immediately after the game.
Mahle pitched seven shutout innings, allowing two hits and three walks while striking out four. His 10 hits allowed over his first five outings are the fewest in franchise history (since 1961) for a pitcher in his first five starts of a season.
Los Angeles won two of the three games in the tightly contested series between the last two World Series champions. The Dodgers beat the Rangers 3-0 on Friday before losing 4-3 Saturday on an Adolis Garcia walkoff homer.
The Dodgers, who had just three hits on Sunday, have captured four of their past five games.
Texas, which was shut out for the second time this season, was led by Josh Smith’s three singles.
Casparius followed Glasnow, Luis Garcia and Anthony Banda to the mound before Jack Dreyer and Evan Phillips shared the eighth for Los Angeles.
Shohei Ohtani returned to the Dodgers after missing the first two games of the series while on maternity leave. He batted leadoff and went 0-for-3 with a walk in his first outing as a father.
