KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Elias Díaz hit a go-ahead double in the 10th inning as the Texas Rangers defeated the Kansas City Royals 6-4 on Wednesday night.
Jake Burger came off the bench and tied the score twice for the Rangers in the late innings, with a home run in the seventh and a sacrifice fly in the eighth. He entered as a pinch hitter in the fifth and finished 2 for 2 with a walk and a run.
Click to Gallery
Texas Rangers center fielder Evan Carter catches a line drive for the out on Kansas City Royals' Maikel Garcia during the third inning of a baseball game Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Texas Rangers' Ezequiel Duran reacts after being hit by a pitch thrown by Kansas City Royals pitcher Mason Black during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Texas Rangers' Jacob Latz (67) Ezequiel Duran (20) and Josh Jung, right, celebrate after their baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Texas Rangers' Elias Diaz celebrates on second after hitting an RBI double during the 10th inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Texas Rangers' Elias Diaz waits to hit an RBI double during the 10th inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Díaz's one-out double off Alex Lange (0-3) in the 10th scored automatic runner Ezequiel Duran from second base to give Texas a 5-4 lead. With two outs, Josh Jung drew a bases-loaded walk that forced in another run — one of nine free passes issued by Kansas City pitchers.
Jakob Junis (1-1) struck out three in two hitless innings for the win. Jacob Latz escaped a big jam in the bottom of the 10th for his 10th save.
With the bases loaded and nobody out, Latz threw a called third strike past Isaac Collins before getting Tyler Tolbert to ground into a game-ending double play.
Royals starter Seth Lugo left in the fourth after getting hit in the head by a 106.6 mph line drive off the bat of Brandon Nimmo, a teammate for seven years with the New York Mets.
Lugo was able to stand back up without assistance, and he spoke to teammates and the Royals’ athletic training staff as he walked off the field.
In a post on social media, the team said: “Seth Lugo is doing well after exiting tonight’s game and will undergo the appropriate protocol and testing.”
Burger hit his 11th homer in the seventh to tie the score at 3. Nick Loftin tripled home a run in the bottom half before Burger evened it again with a sac fly in the eighth.
Rangers starter MacKenzie Gore went five innings. He allowed two runs and eight hits with six strikeouts.
Collins, Jac Caglianone and Lane Thomas each had an RBI single for the Royals.
Texas designated hitter Joc Pederson was lifted for Burger in the fifth because of left hip discomfort.
Rangers RHP Kumar Rocker (2-5, 3.54 ERA) faces RHP Michael Wacha (4-4, 3.44) in the series finale Thursday.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
Texas Rangers center fielder Evan Carter catches a line drive for the out on Kansas City Royals' Maikel Garcia during the third inning of a baseball game Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Texas Rangers' Ezequiel Duran reacts after being hit by a pitch thrown by Kansas City Royals pitcher Mason Black during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Texas Rangers' Jacob Latz (67) Ezequiel Duran (20) and Josh Jung, right, celebrate after their baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Texas Rangers' Elias Diaz celebrates on second after hitting an RBI double during the 10th inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Texas Rangers' Elias Diaz waits to hit an RBI double during the 10th inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
NEW YORK (AP) — For all the shots Victor Wembanyama hit to get the San Antonio Spurs to the NBA Finals, the series is beginning to be defined by a few of his misses.
After clanking his shot off the rim at the buzzer on what would have been the Game 2 winner, Wembanyama did the same on two key free throws late in Game 4 on Wednesday night. With the chance to put his team up by three with 1:47 left, he instead went 0 for 2, and the New York Knicks took the lead and went on to win 107-106 on OG Anunoby's tip-in with 1.2 seconds left.
“It's just a shot,” Wembanyama said. “You might work on your form hours and hours. At the end of the day it's just a shot, so you need to shoot it the normal way.”
Wembanyama and the Spurs are now on the brink of elimination, down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series. It mattered little that the 7-foot-4 big man from France scored 24 points and had 13 rebounds.
It mattered more that the Knicks held Wembanyama to eight points in the second half on the way to rallying from 29 points down, the largest comeback in finals history. Game 5 is Saturday night San Antonio.
“It’s going to go one of two ways,” Wembanyama said. “One of two ways, a bad one and a good one. The bad one would be giving up. The good one would be getting stronger through this, getting more together. I know this is what we’re going to do.”
Wembanyama enters Game 5 on the edge of possible discipline after being called for a flagrant foul early in the second half for a right elbow to Karl-Anthony Towns' chin. Because of the NBA's flagrant foul point system, he now has three and is one more away from an automatic one-game suspension.
“Of course I'm going to be a little more careful, but it’s not going to change much,” Wembanyama said.
An officiating decision in the aftermath of Game 3 going the other way would have put him in danger of already staring down a suspension. The NBA acknowledged officials missed Wembanyama striking Knicks guard Jalen Brunson in the head but did not retroactively make it a flagrant.
“The league’s going to do what they’re going to do,” New York coach Mike Brown said before Game 4. “They aren’t going to listen to me. They aren’t going to listen to nobody else.”
Wembanyama early in Game 4 looked to be getting under the skin of his opponents. After scoring on Mitchell Robinson and letting him hear about it while going back down the court late in the first quarter, he took a forearm to the face and appeared to say, “I'm in your head, bro,” while pointing to his right temple.
A similar play happened early in the second, when 6-foot guard Jose Alvarado jostled with Wembanyama before ultimately pushing the 7-4 big man's right leg to get him to the ground.
Things changed after halftime. San Antonio had its biggest lead of the night at 81-52 when Wembanyama elbowed Towns, and the Knicks outscored the Spurs 55-25 the rest of the way.
Wembanyama played all but three minutes of the first half, which coach Mitch Johnson called normal. Johnson said Wembanyama, who ended up playing nearly 44 minutes, got a little more playing time to try to close it out.
“With two days after this, what was at stake, we wanted to win the game and try to put it away,” Johnson said.
Asked if that caused him to wear down as the game went on, Wembanyama responded: “Substitution patterns, I don’t know. It’s not really my expertise. But, yeah, I guess I did.”
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama shoots against the New York Knicks during the first half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Monday, June 8, 2026, in New York. (Al Bello/Pool Photo via AP)
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) shoots against the New York Knicks during the second half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Monday, June 8, 2026, in New York. (Al Bello/Pool Photo via AP)
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama blocks the shot of New York Knicks forward Og Anunoby (8) during the first half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) drives past San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama during first half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
New York Knicks forward Og Anunoby (8) tries to shoot over San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) during the first half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama sits on the court after being knocked down during the first half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the New York Knicks, Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama, right, drives as New York Knicks forward Og Anunoby, left, defends during the second half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
New York Knicks forward Og Anunoby dishes off as San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) defends during Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Monday, June 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) talks with guard Stephon Castle during second half of Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the New York Knicks, Monday, June 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) and San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) battles for the ball during Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Monday, June 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama is introduced prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the New York Knicks, Monday, June 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
