Rangers Beat Twins
via Texas Rangers
ARLINGTON — Nomar Mazara, Ronald Guzman and Adrian Beltre had been mired in home runs droughts, but the trio went deep off Twins starter Jose Berrios to help the Rangers secure a 7-4 win Saturday night at Globe Life Park.
Mazara hit his 18th homer of the season in the second inning. The ball had an exit velocity of 103 mph and an estimated distance of 436 feet, according to Statcast™. It was the second consecutive night Mazara hit a home run after hitting just two in his previous 42 games.
“Felt like Mazara was really close when you look at the swings, the contact and how he was swinging the bat in batting practice the last couple of days,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “It was nice to see.”
Later in the inning, Guzman gave the Rangers the lead for good with a three-run shot to the second deck of right-center field. Per Statcast™, his home run had an exit velocity of 106 mph and an estimated distance of 415 feet. It was Guzman’s first home run in 13 games, and his first extra-base hit since Aug. 13, against the D-backs.
“I don’t know man, hitting is hard,” Guzman said with a wide smile. “I’m not sure what it was. Just trying to find a rhythm, trying to find the feeling again. It’s how the season goes — too many games. You can’t think too much. You’ve got to try and enjoy the game.”
Beltre padded the lead with a solo shot in the fourth, his first homer since Aug. 10. He now has 3,143 career hits, moving him past Robin Yount for 17th all-time.
Rougned Odor added a solo shot in the seventh, his 18th of the season. Odor has homered in three of the last seven games and has 12 in 38 games since the All-Star break.
“I mean, Rougned, since the All-Star break, has been the player that everybody knows who he is,” Mazara said. “He worked his butt off early in the year, and now it’s paying off. He’s back with his timing and stuff like that, and you can see it out there. He’s been really good — not even just hitting, but defense-wise, he’s doing a pretty good job.”
Banister said recently that he wanted to see more out of the middle of the order to take some pressure off the rest of the lineup, and it had a strong showing Saturday. The Rangers hit four or more home runs in a game for the eighth time this season.
“It was nice to see Odor, Beltre and Nomar in that set, even more down the lower tier in Guzman with a big blow early on against their guy,” Banister said. “Like how these guys continue to take their at-bats.
“They are grinding through. We talked about grinding through on Berrios, trying to stay away from the strikeout as much as we could, grind the two-strike at-bats out and that’s what happened.”
