Adolis García broke out of a one-for-19 slump with a solo homer in the eighth inning, and the Texas Rangers extended their winning streak to a season-high five games, defeating the Angels 5-4 on Tuesday night.
The Angels lost for the eighth time in nine games despite two homers and three hits from Logan O’Hoppe.
The Angels had a chance to take the lead in the seventh inning. They had the bases loaded with two out after Anthony Rendon drew a walk off José Leclerc (4-4), but Nolan Schanuel grounded out to first baseman Nathaniel Lowe.
García was batting .115 in July (three for 26) before he drove a sinker from Luis García (3-1) into the elevated stands in right-center. Despite the struggles at the plate, García has reached base in 17 of his last 18 games.
Josh Smith, a surprise omission from 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.
Texas’ Kirby Yates gave up a two-out single to Zach Neto in the ninth but struck out Jo Adell to earn his 14th save.
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 tied the score. His second-inning homer over the left-center wall made it 1-1. In the fourth inning, he lined a fastball from Max Scherzer that just made it over the outstretched glove of center fielder Leody Taveras and knotted it at 4-all.
Texas scored three times in the third to take a 4-1 lead. The Rangers’ first five batters got aboard, including a ground-rule, RBI double by Marcus Semien and Smith’s run-scoring single, which ended Contreras’ night. Texas’ other run came on Wyatt Langford’s sacrifice fly, which brought in Semien.
The Angels got within 4-3 in the bottom of the inning on Schanuel’s run-scoring double. Schanuel then came home on Taylor Ward’s single to the right-field gap, with Texas’ Derek Hill misplaying the ball for an error.
Up next
Rangers right-hander Michael Lorenzen (5-4, 3.21 ERA) takes the mound in the series finale. Right-hander Griffin Canning (3-9, 4.87 ERA) will go for the Angels.