LDN - Sports

Odor, Chirinos homers help Rangers rally past A's

[June 16, 2016] OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Texas Rangers continued their power assault on the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday.

The Rangers struck for four home runs -- two each by Rougned Odor and catcher Robinson Chirinos -- to rally from a 5-0 deficit and to a 7-5 win.

"It's a huge, huge win for us because it did not look good," Texas manager Jeff Banister said. "This goes in as another chapter of the book these guys are writing this year. They're staying engaged and they're resilient."

Reliever Nick Martinez (1-1) earned the win while closer Sam Dyson picked up his 11th save as Texas moved a season-high 16 games over .500 in handing the Athletics their ninth loss in 11 games.

"It's really unfortunate on a night like this. Just one inning," A's starter Sonny Gray said. "Literally one inning. ... Five runs later and the game's tied."

The Rangers have hit 17 home runs in the first six games of their season-high 10-game road trip. With 10 homers in the first three games of the series, Texas is the first team to hit at least three long balls in three straight games in Oakland, home of the A's franchise since 1968.

It also marked the first time in major league history two natives of Venezuela have enjoyed multi-homer games on the same night.

Odor hit his second consecutive homer, and 12th of the season, deep into the right field bleachers off left-handed Oakland reliever Sean Doolittle with two outs in the eighth inning to give the visitors a seventh unanswered run and two-run cushion.

"We've seen the opposite field power show up more this year," Banister said of Odor, now the team's leader in home runs. "We saw pull power last year. He becomes a more dangerous hitter when he can drive the ball out of the ballpark to the opposite field.

"And that's what he's got do to. He gets in and out of that approach from time to time. He's a young guy who needs to be reminded that he can drive the ball that way and he's pretty special when he does that."

The ninth-hitting Chirinos hit his second homer of the game with one out in the seventh inning off of Oakland reliever John Axford (3-2), who had not been touched for a run in his last seven outings.

Chirinos belted a 1-1 pitch deep into the left-field bleachers to break a 5-5 tie. It marked his second career two-homer game with the last coming on Aug. 5, 2014. Chirinos doubled his home run total to four with his third in two nights.

Gray was sailing along with 70 pitches through five scoreless innings during which he scattered three hits, struck out three and walked only one.

But in the span of seven hitters and 19 pitches in the sixth, Gray surrendered the lead all in one giant swoop.

"Up until that inning, (he had) as good of stuff as we've seen all year," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "So it was a little bit startling."

Chirinos homered to start the frame. Shin-Soo Choo and Ian Desmond traded places with back-to-back doubles. Desmond scored two batters later when Prince Fielder lifted a sacrifice fly to deep center.

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Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus (1) third baseman Jurickson Profar (19) celebate second baseman Rougned Odor (12) two run home run in the sixth inning of their MLB baseball game with the Oakland Athletics at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports

Texas capped the tying rally after two were out as Jurickson Profar singled to left-center and Odor drove a 1-0 pitch off-field and just over the left field fence to tie the game.

"He was in complete control until Chirinos hit the home run," Banister said of Gray. "If it shook him a little bit, I don't know. Looked like he started elevating the ball a little bit, lost command, these guys forced him back over the plate, and they didn't miss."

Texas starter Derek Holland hoped his last outing -- five earned runs allowed over five innings -- was an aberration after piling up four straight quality starts. But the left-hander fell into a similar pattern against Oakland.

It started well enough as Holland retired the first six batters. In the span of the six batters he faced to start the third, though, Holland was tagged for three runs and four hits.

Right fielder Jake Smolinski's two-run homer and a RBI single by third baseman Danny Valencia to extend his hitting streak to eight games were keys. An inning later Oakland tagged on two more as center field Billy Burns greeted Martinez with a run-scoring single that turned into two runs thanks to an error in center.

Martinez benefitted from the Texas five-run rally an inning later, and earned his first ever win in relief when the Rangers went ahead in the sixth.

"Stay on the attack," Martinez said of his attitude with new life. "Chirinos did a great job calling pitches. In the middle of a series it's hard to watch all the video. Hitters can tell you different things once you're in the game. Chirinos did a great job pointing me in the right direction."

NOTES: A's manager Bob Melvin said RF Josh Reddick (fractured left thumb) plans to take batting practice before Friday's game against the Angels and a rehabilitation stint could follow. Reddick has been out since May 20. ... Oakland RHP Henderson Alvarez continued his rehabilitation from shoulder surgery with a 45-pitch bullpen session Wednesday, and plans to start for Triple-A Nashville on Saturday when he hopes to pitch five or six innings. Alvarez, 26, signed in the offseason and has yet to debut with Oakland. ... Wednesday marked the 15th time in Rangers' history two players had multi-homer games.

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