Kole Calhoun hit two of Texas’ four home runs as the visiting Rangers posted a 7-3 victory over the New York Mets on Saturday.
Jonah Heim and Leody Taveras also homered for Texas, which improved to 3-2 on its nine-game road trip. Calhoun had four RBIs in the ninth multi-homer game of his career.
Martin Perez (7-2) settled in after allowing Starling Marte’s two-run homer in the first inning and recorded his 50th victory with the Rangers.
Eduardo Escobar homered for the second straight game for the Mets, who have lost four of their last five.
New York took an early lead in the first when Brandon Nimmo singled to begin the game and Marte hit with a 418-foot homer just over the center-field fence.
Texas responded with four runs in the second inning against Trevor Williams (1-5). Calhoun belted a three-run homer with one out and Heim followed with a 385-foot blast to right field.
Calhoun delivered again with two outs in the fourth, depositing Williams’ 1-0 offering over the left-field fence.
Williams allowed five runs on five hits over 3 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out three.
New York pulled within 5-3 on Escobar’s leadoff homer in the fourth off Perez, who had yielded a total of two home runs in his first 15 starts covering 93 1/3 innings.
The Mets had two runners on in the fifth with one out, but Perez induced a double-play grounder from Pete Alonso to end the inning.
Texas added a run in the eighth on Corey Seager’s one-out RBI single, and another in the ninth on Taveras’ second home run of the season.
Perez allowed three runs on seven hits over 6 2/3 innings with two walks and four strikeouts. The 31-year-old has won his last seven decisions.
Marte, Escobar and Francisco Lindor each had two hits for New York, which went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. The Mets have scored a total of 10 runs over their last five games.
–Field Level Media