Arizona Diamond even secures back-to-back World Series titles with a dominant 9-1 win over the Texas Rangers in Game 2, while Ketel Marte breaks the postseason hitting streak record of Derek Jeter and two others

Gabriel Moreno hit a home run and was one of four players to drive in a run as the Arizona Diamondbacks tied the World Series again with a 9-1 victory over the Texas Rangers.

Moreno’s home run opened the scoring early in the fourth when he blasted a solo shot 413 feet to center field at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas.

Arizona also got a 4-for-4 hitting night from Tommy Pham and a dominant pitching performance from starter Merrill Kelly, who went seven innings and gave up one run on three hits while recording nine strikeouts.

In that game, Arizona infielder Ketel Marte went 1-for-5 but set the MLB record for longest postseason hitting streak at 18 games.

He breaks a tie he held with former Red Sox outfielder Manny Ramirez, former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and former Yankees outfielder Hank Bauer in 17 consecutive games.

Gabriel Moreno’s home run gave the Diamondbacks the lead and a win over the Texas Rangers

Merrill Kelly had a strong performance for Arizona, striking out nine batters in seven innings

A night after blowing a two-run, ninth-inning lead in a 6-5 loss in 11 innings, the Diamondbacks beat Texas 16-4 and never trailed.

Emmanuel Rivera also had a two-run single and rookie Corbin Carroll had two RBI singles. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and 38-year-old Evan Longoria each scored a single run for Arizona, which picked up its first road win in the World Series after four losses in 2001.

Kelly, a 35-year-old right-hander, had an unusual career path. After six seasons in the minors, he moved to South Korea from 2015 to 2018 before making his major league debut with Arizona in 2019. This season, he is 12-8 with a 3.29 ERA in 30 starts and is 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA in four postseason starts.

Kelly struck out nine, walked no runs and tallied just one triple, allowing his only run on Mitch Garver’s home run in the fifth.

Pham, a trade deadline acquisition from the New York Mets, went 3-for-29, including a home run in Game 1.

In the second he hit a single, in the fourth and sixth he hit opposing doubles to right and in the eighth he hit a single. He was also picked off from second base by Montgomery

Montgomery started the postseason 3-0 and earned a relief win in Game 7 on Monday against Houston to win the AL pennant for just the second time in his big league career.

His velocity was about 1.5 mph below his season average, and the Diamondbacks’ hitters failed to make contact on just two of the 37 pitches they hit.

The series now shifts to Arizona, even after the Rangers batted .130 overall in Game 2

In this game, Ketel Marte (4) also set a new MLB record for longest postseason hitting streak

Moreno gave Arizona the lead when Montgomery dropped a full-count curveball over the middle of the plate. Moreno blasted the ball into Arizona’s bullpen in left-center, giving him four postseason home runs and 10 RBIs in 14 games.

Pham blasted a two-out double into the right field corner and scored on Gurriel’s single for a 2-0 lead.

Arizona provided a cushion in the sixth when Alek Thomas doubled into the gap in right-center and scored when Longoria hit a hard grounder past rookie third baseman Josh Jung in his first World Series since 2008 and scored an RBI single down the line.

Marte and Caroll hit a single off Martín Pérez in the eighth.

The series – the first ever between two Wild Card teams – now turns to Phoenix, where the Diamondbacks will host the next three games – and hope to win all three to win their second title.