Rangers notch first win behind Mazara’s grand slam, 6 RBIs

Nomar Mazara went 3 for 5 with a grand slam in the second inning and compiled a career-high six RBIs to lead the Rangers over the Oakland A’s 10-5 Friday night at Globe Life Park. It’s the Rangers first win after starting 0-3.

How Rangers pitchers fared: A.J. Griffin was spotted an 8-0 lead after two innings and it turned out that he needed most of it. Center fielder Carlos Gomez tracked down all three outs in the first inning, including a homer-robbing snag of Matt Joyce.

The A’s scored three times in the third and another run in the fourth. In the third, he walked Yonder Alonzo and hit Marcus Semien before Matt Joyce’s two-out, three-run homer made it 8-3. Khris Davis led off the fourth with a homer. After the A’s loaded the bases on two singles and a walk, Griffin left the game with mild abrasions on both knees and his right hand after diving for a wild throw from Mazara in right field. Griffin was backing up Mazara’s throw home and dove on the dirt to keep the ball from going out of play, which would have let two runs score.

Alex Claudio replaced him with the bases loaded and forced Semien into an unassisted double play started by Rougned Odor. Claudio was excellent over 3 2/3 innings, holding the A’s to one hit and a walk. Tony Barnette pitched a perfect eighth and Jose Leclerc allowed an unearned run in the ninth.

How Rangers hitters fared: Carlos Gomez led off with a Texas League double to shallow center field, moved to third on Shin-Soo Choo’s groundout and scored on Mazara’s fielder’s choice to first base, safely sliding under the tag head-first at home. Odor’s two-run homer made it 3-0 in the first inning.

Joey Gallo and Jurickson Profar walked in the second and Gomez was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Choo. Choo singled in a run to center before Mazara smacked his first-career grand slam to center field to make it 8-0. Elvis Andrus doubled and scored on Gomez’s double in the sixth before Mazara drove in Gomez with a single to left to push the lead to 10-4.

Notable: Mazara’s six RBIs are a career high ... since the start of 2013, only one other Rangers players has had six or more RBIs in a game. J.P. Arencibia had seven RBIs on July 29, 2014 against the Yankees in Arlington ... Mazara’s nine RBIs in the first four games are a Rangers record ... Gomez doubled twice on bloopers to shallow center field ... Khris Davis, who homered in the fourth, hit 10 homers against the Rangers in ’16, the most by any player in one season against the Rangers.

This story was originally published April 7, 2017 at 10:05 PM with the headline "Rangers notch first win behind Mazara’s grand slam, 6 RBIs."