Adolis Garcia went 3–for–4 with a home run, Leody Taveras went 4–for–5 and drove in four runs and the Texas Rangers closed out a road series win on Sunday, May 7, with a 16–8 rout of the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif.
Texas fell behind early when Anthony Rendon sent Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani home with a three-run homer in the first inning off Rangers starter Martin Perez. Perez surrendered seven earned runs and eight hits in just 3 2/3 innings.
It did not take the Rangers long to respond, however.
Jonah Heim drew a leadoff walk in the Texas half of the second inning, and Ezequiel Duran drove him in on the ensuing at-bat with a towering home run to left field. The Rangers then tied it 3–3 when Robbie Grossman’s sacrifice fly scored Travis Jankowski, who pulled up lame on the play and sat the rest of the afternoon.
Jankowski’s replacement, Josh Smith, blasted a two-run home run to cap a four-run third inning for the Rangers. They led their American League West counterparts the rest of the way.
Starter Jose Suarez (1–2), who took the loss, lasted just 2 2/3 innings for Los Angeles. He gave up seven earned runs on six hits and walked three batters. Relievers Chase Silseth and Chris Devenski pitched 3 1/3 and two innings, allowing three earned runs each.
The only Angels pitcher to escape unscathed was first baseman Jake Lamb, who worked a scoreless ninth inning. The outcome was no longer in doubt at that doubt with Texas sporting a nine-run lead.
Any hope of a Los Angeles comeback was nixed in the seventh inning. The Angels had responded to a four-run Texas-half of the fourth inning with RBI singles by Taylor Ward and Ohtani, pulling to within four runs.
But the Rangers’ five-run seventh put it away, with Garcia hitting a three-run home run after RBI singles by Marcus Semien and Nathaniel Lowe.
The offensive outpouring resulted in Texas’ second double-digit-run effort in the series, a day removed from a 10–1 win on Saturday.
Rendon went 2–for–3 in the loss with two home runs, knocking out a second in the ninth inning. Ohtani went 2–for–3 and drew two walks. Thaiss went 3–for–4.
Josh Sborz (1–1) picked up the win with his two scoreless innings pitched for Texas.
