Power Rangers! Texas Rangers Hit 4 More Homers In Sixth Straight Win
The Texas Rangers kept the power on.
The Rangers hit four home runs, including three in a row in the sixth inning to beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-1 Monday at Angels Stadium.
It's the Rangers (88-68) sixth consecutive win, who remained 2.5 games ahead of the Houston Astros (86-71) atop the AL West. The Rangers' magic number to clinching the division is four, meaning any combination of Texas wins and Astros losses equaling four. The playoff magic number is three.
The Astros beat the Seattle Mariners (84-72) on Monday. The loss pushes the Mariners, who were swept by the Rangers over the weekend, to four games back of the Rangers, and 1.5 games back of the Astros for the third and final Wild Card spot.
Adolis Garcia, Mitch Garver and Nathaniel Lowe hit back-to-back-to-back homers in the sixth to give Texas a 3-1 lead. Marcus Semien added a solo homer in the seventh to make it 4-1. The Rangers tacked on another run in the eighth when Jonah Heim walked, moved to third on Leody Taveras' single, and scored on a wild pitch.
The four-homer night comes a day after Texas hit a season-high six homers in Sunday's win over the Mariners.
Rangers 5, Angels 1
Here are the key moments from Monday's game:
Back to back to back
The Rangers hit three consecutive home runs in the sixth when Adolis Garcia, Mitch Garver, and Nathaniel Lowe went deep. It's the ninth time the club has hit three consecutive homers and first since Aug. 19, 2015, against the Mariners at Globe Life Park. Those were hit in the seventh inning by Mitch Moreland, Mike Napoli, and Elvis Andrus.
Streaky Rangers
The Rangers won their sixth consecutive game Monday, the fourth time they've had win streaks of six games or longer this season. All four have come since the All-Star break. It's tied for the most in a season for the franchise with the 1978 and 2011 teams. The only other teams with at least four win streaks of six games or more are the Atlanta Braves (5) and Los Angeles Dodgers (4).
Gray Goes 6 But Leaves with Injury
Jon Gray pitched his best game in more than a month but left before throwing a pitch in the seventh with right wrist tightness. Gray allowed one run on five hits over six innings. He struck out seven and walked none. Gray earned the win to improve to 9-8.
Up Next
The Rangers are starting left-hander Cody Bradford (4-2, 4.65) on Tuesday, with a multitude of pitchers ready to being used behind him. The Angels are going with left-hander Reid Detmers (3-10, 4.64) in Game 2 at 8:38 p.m.
You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.
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