Corey Seager waited until the eighth to write his line into a game Texas had already rewritten twice.
With the Rangers leading 7-6 after Jonny DeLuca's RBI single in the seventh, Seager led off the eighth with a 396-foot solo home run to left-center off Cole Sulser - his 15th of the season - and put the margin back at two. Jakob Junis later finished a perfect ninth.
The final was 8-6, a series split against the American League's best record and another night when Texas climbed out of early four-run holes.
ESPN's box lists Seager 1-for-5 with a run, an RBI, and no strikeouts, moving him to .227/.322/.417 with 38 RBI. One swing does not inflate a season average that thin, but it did end Tampa Bay's best chance to steal a win after Texas had spent four innings clawing back.
The Associated Press framed the homer as the swing that restored Texas' two-run lead after the Rays had pulled within one - a leadoff drive in the eighth that made it 8-6.
Late insurance after an early mess
MacKenzie Gore surrendered five runs in three innings as Tampa Bay built 4-0 and 5-1 leads. Jake Burger's two homers and Justin Foscue's two-run double tied it in the fourth. Elias Díaz and Ezequiel Durán drove in runs in the fifth for a 7-5 Texas lead.
Trevor Williams (1-0) threw two scoreless innings for the win after signing with Texas last week; Steven Matz (5-5) took the loss, the Associated Press reported.
Seager's eighth-inning drive mattered because the bullpen sequence behind him was already set: Jacob Latz through a scoreless eighth, Junis for his sixth save in seven chances. Without that solo shot, a one-run game in the ninth would have asked a different question of a bullpen that had already absorbed Gore's short start.
