Adolis Garcia, Mitch Garver and Nathaniel Lowe hit back-to-back-to back home runs and Jon Gray allowed one run over six innings to lead the Texas Rangers to their sixth straight victory, 5-1 over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night in Anaheim.
Marcus Semien also homered for Texas (88-68), which remained 2 1/2 games ahead of the Houston Astros in the American League West with six games to go. The Rangers, who have hit 17 home runs and scored 45 runs during their six-game win streak, also moved into the American League home run lead with 227.
Gray (9-8) picked up his first win since Aug. 11, allowing five hits while striking out seven. Gray, who hadn’t made it out of the fourth inning in his three previous starts, left with right wrist tightness while warming up for the seventh inning. Jonathan Hernandez and Andrew Heaney combined to throw three shutout innings of relief after his departure.
Logan O’Hoppe went 2-for-4 with a home run and Michael Stefanic had three hits for Los Angeles (70-87), which lost for the 10th time in its last 12 games. Nolan Schanuel doubled leading off the bottom of the first to extend his on-base streak to 27 games, the fourth longest on-base streak in major league history to start a career.
Jimmy Herget (2-4) suffered the loss, allowing three runs in one inning. Angels starter Patrick Sandoval, who allowed no runs on two hits and five walks in three-plus innings, left with right oblique tightness after walking Garver in the fourth. He struck out two.
The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the second inning lead in the second when O’Hoppe led off with his 13th homer of the season, a 397-foot drive to center.
Texas then took a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning on three consecutive one-out home runs on 10 pitches by Herget. Garcia started the streak with his 37th homer to right-center. Garver followed with his 19th off the left field foul pole. Lowe then lined his 17th to right field.
Semien made it 4-1 when he led off the seventh with his 28th home run off reliever Jaime Barria. The Rangers extended the lead to 5-1 in the eighth when Jonah Heim walked, advanced to third on a single by Leody Taveras and scored on a wild pitch.
–Field Level Media