Rangers on brink of World Series championship after Game 4 romp - ESPN

PHOENIX — Adolis Garcia is not typically one for speeches, but the mood struck him Tuesday afternoon, moments after learning a strain of his obliques would prematurely end his dominant run through this postseason. He gathered his Texas Rangers teammates in Chase Field's visiting locker room and told them he loved them. He told them to win two more games and capture this franchise's first World Series championship, in his honor. And he told them he was confident they would pull it off.

«He was vulnerable,» Rangers shortstop Corey Seager said after helping to ignite an 11-7 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 4. «That's hard to do. To be able to come in, knowing the headspace he's in, not being able to help us and still contribute — that's a hard thing to do. He did a great job.»

His teammates did even better.

Facing a string of Arizona Diamondbacks relievers, the Rangers scored 10 runs before the end of the third inning, riding the early onslaught, along with five innings of one-run ball from Andrew Heaney, to a win that felt a lot more lopsided than the final score indicated. The Rangers scored five runs each in the second and third innings, all of them with two outs, and secured their 10th consecutive road victory of these playoffs.

After it was over, a lot of their focus shifted to Garcia, the American League Championship Series MVP who proceeded to hit the walk-off homer to seal a dramatic come-from-behind victory in Game 1 of the World Series. A violent swing that produced a flyout to end the top of the eighth inning in Monday's Game 3 caused his left side to tighten up, prompting Garcia to exit the game and leave the ballpark for further testing. He showed up early the following day and underwent a heavy