The Associated Press
ARLINGTON, Tex.–Delino DeShields provided a spark at the top of the lineup.
Ryan Rua and Shin-Soo Choo topped off a big finish with some late long balls.
Rua hit his first career grand slam while Choo connected for a three-run homer in Texas’ eight-run eighth, leading the Rangers to a 14-3 rout against the Minnesota Twins last night.
Before the game got out of hand, the Rangers went ahead to stay when Joey Gallo took a couple of hits on a tie-breaking trip around the bases.
“That was a pretty weird sequence but I’ll take it,” Gallo said. “And take the lead, that’s nice.”
Gallo was hit by a pitch leading off the sixth against Taylor Rogers (1-1).
The young Texas slugger then scored on a wild pitch by another reliever to make it 3-2, and was struck on the back of the right shoulder by catcher Chris Gimenez’s throw after the ball ricocheted hard off the brick backstop.
Elvis Andrus added a two-run single and later scored on a passed ball in Texas’ four-run sixth, which included only two hits.
“We’ve been searching for runs,” noted manager Jeff Banister. “Prior to later innings, we’d only had two hits with runners in scoring position.
“But with that, guys continued to grind through,” he added.
“I think they were really rewarded late with the approaches that they’ve had.”
DeShields, in the lead-off spot for only the second time this season, went 2-for-3 with three walks, three runs scored, two stolen bases, and an RBI.
Texas, after falling behind 2-0 on Eduardo Escobar’s homer in the second off Cole Hamels, set season highs with 14 runs and 14 hits.
Rougned Odor’s two-run single in the fifth tied the game.
“We kind of danced around there early,” said Twins’ manager Paul Molitor.
“Odour got them going with the big two-out single, and we just couldn’t push the right buttons after that.”
Hamels (2-0) allowed three runs and seven hits over 6 2/3 innings.
Twins’ starter Hector Santiago, a day after his grandmother died and before going on MLB’s bereavement list, threw a season-high 104 pitches over five innings.
The lefty allowed two runs and six hits, struck out six, and walked four.
“I talked to him after the game, praised him for the effort he gave us,” Molitor said.
“You know it’s got to be on your mind.”
Santiago said he spent a lot of time over the last couple of days talking with family to set up his grandmother’s funeral, which will be Sunday.
“Trying to get everybody over the hump and trying to have a better day,” he remarked. “But it wasn’t too bad.
“Today, I wasn’t as efficient as I wanted to be,” Santiago added. “I threw some good pitches that guys laid off of.”
Choo, hitting ninth for the first time in his career, became the first Rangers’ player since at least 1984 with a triple and homer in the same inning.
His seven total bases were the most in an inning since Adrian Beltre homered twice in an inning against Baltimore on Aug. 22, 2012.
With the win, Texas avoided its third sweep already this year.
The Rangers were swept only three times all of last season while repeating as AL West champs.
Elsewhere in the AL, New York beat Boston 3-1, Baltimore edged Tampa Bay 5-4 (11 innings), Chicago downed Kansas City 5-2, Cleveland nipped Houston 7-6, Seattle blanked Detroit 8-0, and L.A. topped Oakland 8-5.
The interleague game between Toronto and St. Louis was rained out.
It was scheduled to be made up today as part of a day-night doubleheader.
