The Texas Rangers must have felt safe facing the bottom of the Cincinnati Reds batting order when they scanned the statistical sheets and saw:
Spencer Steer, 1 for 17.
Tyler Stephenson, 1 for 14.
Cincinnati Reds center fielder TJ Friedl, left, reacts with shortstop Elly de la Cruz after their team defeated the Texas Rangers 5-3 during the Rangers’ home-opener baseball game Friday, April 3, 2026, in Arlington, Texas.
Julio Cortez – AP
But after Friday afternoon’s 5-3 loss to the Reds, they probably were rechecking those sheets.
Steer unloaded a two-run home run in the second inning to give the Reds an early 2-0 lead against MacKenzie Gore.
Then with the score 3-3, Steer led the ninth with a screaming double up the left-center gap.
Stephenson, facing 6-8, 224-pound 39-year-old veteran C Chris Martin, put together a truly professional eight-pitch at-bat and rocketed the eighth pitch over the right-center wall, a two-run game-winning home run.
That’s when the Rangers ripped up their scouting reports and tossed them into the trash.
Martin, pitching for his seventh team, barged ahead of Stephenson 0-and-2, then Stephenson worked the count full before delivering the game-buster.
Tyler Stephenson – Cincinnati Reds (1) pic.twitter.com/OkJigjHDCx
— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) April 3, 2026
All five Reds runs came via home runs. Texas led 3-2 when Elly De La Cruz came to bat leading off the sixth. He faked a bunt against the lefthanded Gore on the first pitch, then tied it on the next pitch with 385-foot line drive into the left field seats.
It was the home opener for the Rangers and the Reds spoiled it for 37,638 fans.
With Steer on second with no outs in the ninth, Stephenson said his mission was to get Steer to third. Instead he unloaded the home run and he screamed in delight all the way around the bases.
“Steer had a great at-bat leading off with the double,” Stephenson told reporters after the game. “I was just trying to do my job by getting him over (to third).
“I kinda laid off some good pitches and he finally made a mistake out over (the plate) and I was able to get it to right field. I didn’t know if it would travel enough and we’ll take a home run there. I was just trying to get a job done there.”
Cincinnati Reds’ Tyler Stephenson reacts after hitting a two-run home run off Texas Rangers pitcher Chris Martin during the ninth inning of the Rangers’ home-opener baseball game Friday, April 3, 2026, in Arlington, Texas.
Julio Cortez – AP
Manager Tito Francona was outwardly not concerned about the early batting miseries of Steer and Stephenson.
“It’s no fun living through it,” he told reporters. “They don’t like it, either. But I think you’ll make some bad mistakes if you make some judgements too early on them because they’re good players.”
Of Stephenon’s eight-pitch at-bat, Francona said, “What a good at-bat, because at worst he is trying to move the runner. Even when he got two strikes on him he kept that approach. He deserved it. That was a really good effort.”
On the pitching front, Brady Singer started for the Reds and gave up two runs on six hits over five-plus innings.
He retired the first two in the second after Steer gave him a 2-0 lead, then he gave up four straight hits including a two-run double by number nine hitter Danny Jansen to tie it, 2-2.
Left fielder Steer tried to make a sensational diving catch on Jansen, but the ball missed his glove by inches and skittered to the wall.
De La Cruz’s home run in the top of the sixth gave the Reds a 3-2 lead, but when Texas’ Jake Burke led the bottom of the sixth with a double, Singer’s day was done. Sam Moll came in to clean it up with no runs.
“He battled, he really battled,” Francona told reporters about Singer’s day. “He took a ball off the shin (in the fifth) and he is gonna be a little sore, but he was good against the lefties, because they had a bunch of ‘em in there.”
The Rangers tied it, 3-3, in the seventh when Graham Ashcraft gave up a triple to Brandon Nimmo and a run-scoring double to Wyatt Langford that tied it with one out.
Ashcraft then left the go-ahead run stranded on second when he struck out Corey Seager and coaxed a ground ball out of Jake Burger.
Tony Santillan pitched a perfect eighth and Emilio Pagan, who has struggled in the early going, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save.
Cincinnati Reds pitcher Emilio Pagán, left, and catcher Tyler Stephenson react after their team defeated the Texas Rangers 5-3 during the Rangers’ home-opener baseball game Friday, April 3, 2026, in Arlington, Texas.
Julio Cortez – AP
Leadoff hitter TJ Friedl, off to a bad start, was given the day off and Matt McLain was slipped into the leadoff spot. He grounded out to open the game and was 0 for 12, but singled twice in his next three at-bats.
Francona is not a huge fan of depending upon home run to win games, but wasn’t ready to give back the three the Reds hit Friday.
“Our guys can hit as many as they want, believe me,” he said. “I do think when they are by-products of good at-bats, that’s even more impressive.”
The Reds were on a two-game losing streak, dropping back-to-back 8-3 home games to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The 4-3 Reds have won those four games by 1, 1, 2 and 2 runs after winning close games was a problem last season.
“They’re huge,” said Stephenson about winning tight games. “We’ll take every one we can get. Winning one-run and two-run games is huge and we can use these to build on.”