Rangers finish home slate with 3-1 win over Mets to keep Texas tied for AL West lead

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Texas Rangers' Josh Jung reacts in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run against the New York Mets during the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Texas Rangers' Josh Jung swings at a pitch before hitting a two-run home run against the New York Mets during the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) — Texas Rangers' Josh Jung reacts in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run against the New York Mets during the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

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5:11 PM on Thursday, September 24

By STEPHEN HAWKINS

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Josh Jung and Corey Seager homered, Kumar Rocker pitched five solid innings and Texas closed out its home schedule with a 3-1 win over the New York Mets on Thursday that kept the Rangers tied for the AL West lead heading into the regular season's final weekend.

Texas stopped a three-game losing streak, and Houston won 7-5 later Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series at the Athletics. Both teams are 79-80 with three games left, with the Astros holding the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Texas, which finishes the regular season in Minnesota, went ahead to stay on Jung's two-run homer in the first inning off rookie left-hander Zac Thornton (5-6). Seager snapped an 0-for-15 skid when he led off the sixth with his 19th homer.

Rocker (6-11) struck out four while allowing one run and three hits. Jordan Montgomery, the fourth Rangers reliever, worked a perfect ninth for his second big league save. He's made 161 starts and 17 relief appearances over nine big league seasons.

Francisco Lindor led off the game with a double and scored on Carson Benge's two-out single to put New York up 1-0. Benge has 160 hits, a Mets rookie record.

Thornton struck out four and walked one in five innings. He allowed four hits and the only runs he surrendered were on Jung's 12th homer. Seager went deep off Jefry Yan, another rookie.

Jung, who finished with three hits and a walk, is hitting .341 (15 for 44) in 11 games since coming off the injured list Sept. 12. He missed 47 games because of a left calf strain.

Up next

New York (73-86) goes to Washington (75-84) to open a three-game series Friday matching the teams at the bottom of the NL East standings.

Two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom (11-10) is set to start for Texas on Friday against the Twins, who never trailed while sweeping three games in Texas in mid-June.

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