Texas Rangers Blast Oakland, Complete Dominant Road Trip
Adolis García capped off a wild eighth inning with a grand slam, as the Texas Rangers finished off a wildly successful road trip with Sunday afternoon’s 11-3 romp over the Oakland Athletics at Oakland Coliseum.
The American League West-leading Rangers (25-15) won three consecutive division series on the trek west, going 7-3 over the 10-day jaunt. Texas won sets at the Los Angeles Angels (2-1), Seattle Mariners (2-1) and Athletics (3-1), and returns home with a four-game lead over the Houston Astros.
The Rangers are also 10 games over .500 for the first time in 2019 going into a six-game homestand starting Monday against the Atlanta Braves. The stay at Globe Life Field also included a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies beginning Friday.
The good news doesn’t end there, as shortstop Corey Seager appears poised rejoin the club, perhaps as soon as Monday. Seager has been on a rehab assignment at Double-A Frisco.
The Rangers jumped on A’s starter JP Sears right off the bat on Mother’s Day. Leadoff hitter Marcus Semien was hit by a pitch and Robbie Grossman followed by depositing a sweeper 371 yards to left for a quick 2-0 lead.
Texas starter Andrew Heaney was in position to snap a two-game losing streak after worked six innings, striking out nine and allowing one.
The left-hander left with a 3-1 lead, but reliever Jonathan Hernández promptly gave up a two-run homer to Shea Langeliers in the seventh.
García, who had a run-scoring single in the third, opened the eighth with a double to left-center. Heim followed with a solid single that scored García.
The floodgates opened from there. The Rangers batted around, with García coming up again with the bases loaded. He cleared the bases with a 400-foot drive to center to make it 11-3.
The eight-run uprising was the highest-scoring inning for the Rangers on the road since 2015. Texas leads the Majors with 10 double-digit scoring games this season, three more than any other team.
The Rangers haven’t announced a starter for the Braves opener, though Dane Dunning has taken the last two turns in the rotation for injured ace Jacob deGrom. Dunning has performed well in both outings, including a win at Seattle on Wednesday.
Atlanta plans to start Charlie Morton (4-3, 3.32) on Monday. Texas also doesn’t have probable pitchers listed for the next two games in the series.
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