ANAHEIM, Calif.—Adolis García broke out of a 1-for-19 slump with a solo home run in the eighth inning, and the Texas Rangers extended their winning streak to a season-high five games Tuesday night with a 5–4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
García was batting .115 in July (3 for 26) before he drove a sinker from Luis García (3–1) into the elevated stands in right-center field.
“It was awesome because it helped the team win. That’s the most important thing right now,” García said through an interpreter. “It was a big moment for me, but it helped the team win.”
García had hard-hit balls in his first two at-bats but ended up grounding into a double play and lining out to the outfield.
“He didn’t have much to show for it, and didn’t get down about it,“ Texas Manager Bruce Bochy said. ”He goes up there and hits a home run to put us ahead. He’s a guy that carried us last year. If we can get him going, it’s going to be more fun around here.”
The Angels lost for the eighth time in their past nine games despite two homers and three hits from Logan O’Hoppe.
Los Angeles had a chance to take the lead in the seventh inning. The Angels had the bases loaded with two outs after Anthony Rendon drew a walk off José Leclerc (4–4), but Nolan Schanuel grounded out to first baseman Nathaniel Lowe.
Kirby Yates allowed a two-out single to Zach Neto in the ninth before striking out Jo Adell to earn his 14th save.
“We put ourselves in position to do something really good, but we couldn’t get that hit,” Angels Manager Ron Washington said.
The Rangers’ Josh Smith, a surprise omission off the All-Star Game roster, had three hits, including a home run in the first inning.
After two failed bunt attempts, Smith lined a changeup over the center of the plate from Angels’ starter Roansy Contreras off the auxiliary scoreboard above the wall in right-center. The solo shot also knocked out power to some of the panels on the scoreboard.
It was the second career two-homer game for O’Hoppe. His 14 homers are tied with Lance Parrish for the most by an Angels catcher before the All-Star Game.
Both of O'Hoppe’s solo shots off Rangers’ starter Max Scherzer ended up tying the game. His second-inning homer over the wall in left-center field made it 1–1. In the fourth inning, he lined a fastball from Scherzer that just made it over the outstretched glove of center fielder Leody Taveras and knotted it at 4–4.
“I watched him growing up a ton. He’s been dominant his whole career, but it doesn’t matter being on the losing end,” said O'Hoppe about his big game against Scherzer.
Texas scored three times in the third to take a 4–1 lead. The Rangers’ first five batters got aboard, including an RBI ground-rule double by Marcus Semien and Smith’s RBI base hit, which ended Contreras’ night. Texas’ other run came on Wyatt Langford’s sacrifice fly, which brought in Semien.
