PHOENIX — Trick or treat, the Diamondbacks smell like dead meat.
The World Series isn’t over, but Tuesday night the Rangers sure made it look that way, with a Halloween display that put the franchise on the precipice of its first world championship.
This one got resolved quickly.
The Rangers jumped to a 10-run lead before the third inning concluded and rolled to an 11-7 victory over the D-backs in Game 4 of the World Series at Chase Field.
Marcus Semien, a no-show for most of this postseason, homered and drove in five runs and Corey Seager continued his October magic with his third homer of the series, blowing up Arizona manager Torey Lovullo’s bullpen game in a hurry.
“This was nothing we saw coming,” Lovullo said.
The D-backs will attempt to rally from a 3-1 series deficit. Only six teams have escaped that hole in the World Series — most recently the 2016 Cubs against Cleveland.
“We win the ballgame, we get the ring,” Semien said. “But you need to think about the process of how you get that done — good defense, good pitching, timely hitting, two-out RBIs. Those things that we did the last two nights we need to continue.”
These unflappable Rangers extended their own record by winning a 10th straight road game to begin a postseason.
The 10-game road winning streak is also the longest in MLB postseason history overall, one ahead of the Yankees in 1996-97 and also from 1937-42 when all the wins came in the World Series.
Seager’s sixth homer of the postseason gave the Rangers a 5-0 lead in the second.
Josh Jung doubled against Joe Mantiply to start the inning and with two outs scored on Miguel Castro’s wild pitch.
After Leody Tavares’ walk and Travis Jankowski’s single, Marcus Semien delivered a two-run triple. Seager’s ensuing two-run blast gave him six homers in 17 career World Series games.
The game turned into a runaway in the third following first baseman Christian Walker’s fielding error that led to five unearned runs.
Jung and Nathaniel Lowe stroked consecutive singles before Jonah Heim hit a grounder which Walker mishandled.
With the bases loaded, the former Mets outfielder Jankowski — starting in place of Adolis Garcia, who was removed from the roster before the game with an oblique strain — delivered a two-run double. Semien followed with a three-run homer that extended the Rangers’ lead to 10-0.
“The offense exploded tonight, and that is always a good thing,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. gave the sellout crowd a reason to cheer (but much too late) with a three-run homer in the eighth that moved the D’backs within 11-5.
The D-backs added two runs in the ninth.
It came after lefty Andrew Heaney gave the Rangers a solid five-inning performance in which he allowed one earned run on four hits and two walks.
The Rangers are expected to deploy Nathan Eovaldi for the Game 5 start.
The D’backs will turn to ace Zac Gallen on Wednesday in trying to keep their season alive. The right-hander is still searching for a dominant performance in this postseason.
Gallen owns a 5.27 ERA in his five starts this postseason, which includes an underwhelming outing in Game 1 of the World Series.
In that start, he allowed three earned runs over five innings in a game the Rangers rallied to win against the D’backs bullpen.
“I’m still trying to get better each day, really,” Gallen said before Game 4. “I just threw like a 35-pitch bullpen [Monday], where I think some people might try to taper it off … I’m still trying to work on things.”
Gallen pitched to a 3.47 ERA in 34 starts this season, teaming with Merrill Kelly to give the D’backs a formidable 1-2 punch. But Gallen has struggled with his control in the playoffs, with 13 walks in 27 ¹/₃ innings.
