Kyle Higashioka homered and knocked in five runs Saturday night as the visiting Texas Rangers squared their weekend series with the San Diego Padres, taking a 7-4 decision.
Higashioka, who belted a career-high 17 homers last year while playing for San Diego, put Texas ahead to stay by lining a two-run shot in the third that was just his second of the year. The catcher added a pair of RBI singles and a sacrifice fly, finishing the game 3-for-3 to up his average to .232.
Patrick Corbin (5-7) got the win, working six solid innings and permitting two runs off six hits and a walk with three strikeouts. Five relievers combined for the final nine outs, with Shawn Armstrong earning his third save by retiring Xander Bogaerts with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth.
Stephen Kolek (3-4) was tagged with the loss after yielding nine hits and six runs in 5 1/3 innings. Kolek walked one and fanned two in losing for the fourth time in five decisions.
Kolek trailed 1-0 after the first pitch of the game, a fastball right down the middle that Josh Smith drilled an estimated 409 feet over the right field wall for his eighth homer.
Jake Cronenworth, who walked off the Rangers Friday with a two-out bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 10th, gave the Padres a 2-1 lead in the second by ripping a two-run homer to right. It was his eighth of the season.
After Higashioka’s homer made it 3-2 in the third, Texas tacked on two more two-out runs in the fourth. Jonah Heim lined a double to the right field corner that scored Wyatt Langford, who walked, and Higashioka drove in Heim with a single to left.
Higashioka lofted a sacrifice fly off reliever Yuki Matsui in the sixth to up the margin to 6-2. San Diego crawled back to 6-4 in the seventh when Jackson Merrill and Manny Machado delivered sacrifice flies.
The Rangers outhit the Padres 11-10, although Luis Arraez went 4-for-5 in a losing effort.
–Field Level Media
