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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
PHOENIX — Adolis Garcia and Max Scherzer have been removed from the Texas Rangers‘ postseason roster, and they will miss the remainder of the World Series, the team announced on Tuesday ahead of Game 4.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said Garcia has “a moderate strain of the oblique,” an injury he suffered late in Game 3 on Monday. Scherzer’s back locked up in the third inning of his Game 3 start.
Garcia was replaced by outfielder Ezequiel Duran, and Scherzer was replaced by left-handed pitcher Brock Burke, the Rangers announced. Teams in the postseason are allowed to replace players who are unable to play due to an injury.
For Game 4, Travis Jankowski replaced Garcia in right field, and designated hitter Mitch Garver moved into the No. 3 spot in the lineup for what will be a bullpen game for the Arizona Diamondbacks, with rookie left fielder Evan Carter batting cleanup and third baseman Josh Jung hitting fifth.
Garcia experienced pain on his left side on the swing that produced a flyout to end the top of the eighth in the Rangers’ 3-1 win on Monday then came out of the game and promptly exited Chase Field to undergo further evaluation.
Garcia, a two-time All-Star who didn’t emerge until he was a 28-year-old rookie in 2021, has put together a remarkable postseason, slashing .323/.382/.726 with eight home runs in 15 games. In a six-at-bat stretch to end the American League Championship Series, Garcia homered three times and drove in nine runs, leading the Rangers to back-to-back road wins against the Houston Astros and winning the ALCS MVP trophy.
He then delivered the walk-off home run to win Game 1 of the World Series in extra innings.
“Whoever slots into his spot in the lineup is going to do a great job; whoever plays right field will do a great job,” Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe said. “It’s nothing new to us. It stinks that that’s the guy who goes down, positionwise, but we’ve dealt with it on the pitching side a lot. And I feel like we’ve done a pretty good job when it happens to position players too.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.