Adolis Garcia had three hits, including a home run and two RBI and made two great diving catches in right field to help the Texas Rangers beat the host Pittsburgh Pirates 6-2 on Friday night.
Garcia went 3-for-4 and his efforts backed up a strong outing by starter Jacob deGrom (7-2), who pitched six innings, allowing two runs on five hits and one walk while striking out seven on 84 pitches.
The Rangers snapped a three-game losing streak and handed the Pirates their fifth loss in their past six games.
Marcus Semien and Jonah Heim each had two hits for Texas while Corey Seager hit his seventh home run of the season and first since returning from the injured list on May 28th.
Joey Bart led Pittsburgh with three hits and an RBI and Nick Gonzales also had two hits.
The Pirates mustered nine hits overall, but all were singles.
The Rangers struck immediately in the first inning against Pirates rookie starter Mike Burrows (1-2) when Josh Smith and Sam Haggerty opened the game with back-to-back singles. On Haggerty’s liner to center field, the ball bounced off Oneil Cruz resulting in a costly error that allowed Smith to score. Haggerty then scored on a wild pitch.
Burrows gave up four runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out four over 4 2/3 innings.
Garcia’s ninth homer of the season in the fourth inning pushed the Rangers’ lead to 3-0.
Pittsburgh answered with four singles and a walk — all with two outs — off deGrom. Adam Frazier’s single scored Spencer Horwitz to cut the deficit to 3-2. deGrom struck out Alexander Canario to end the inning.
Seager’s solo home run in the fifth pushed the Rangers’ lead to 4-2 and added another in the seventh when Semien tripled and Garcia followed with a double.
Pirates reliever Ryan Borucki appeared to suffer an injury during his appearance in the top of the ninth inning. Borucki exited after facing four batters following a slight stumble as he finished his delivery on a pitch to Evan Carter. Borucki remained in the game, but then was removed after walking Carter to load the bases.
Josh Jung drove in Texas’ sixth run on a ground out to first off Caleb Ferguson.
–Field Level Media
