Carlos Gomez’s rooster call leads to Rangers’ big win over Blue Jays

Perhaps Texas Rangers center fielder Carlos Gomez will keep the rooster crowing.

Before his first at-bat Thursday afternoon in the homestand finale against the Toronto Blue Jays, Gomez came to the plate to the sounds of roosters crowing. He promptly ripped a single up the middle.

As he stood on first base, again Globe Life Park public address announcer Chuck Morgan played rooster crows.

Most of those in attendance, including in the press box and watching on television, wondered, some of us aloud, what in the heck was that about?

By the time the Rangers had wrapped up an 11-4 win over the Blue Jays, Gomez had homered twice and tied a career-high with five RBIs.

So the rooster call stays. Even if it was a mistake.

Gomez told somebody he wanted the rooster crow to play for Joey Gallo’s at-bats as the walk-up “music.” Gallo in Spanish is rooster. Get it? Ha ha.

“So I wanted to put it up to make fun of him. They confused it and put it on mine. I was thinking after the first at-bat, I need to come up [to the plate] with the rooster,” Gomez joked.

There’s nothing too funny about their next 13 games.

The Rangers went 4-3 on their seven-game homestand, including 2-2 against the Blue Jays to get back to .500 at 36-36. They begin a 10-game road trip Friday night with the first of three against the New York Yankees.

The trip includes four at the defending American League champion Cleveland Indians and three against the Chicago White Sox. They return to Arlington for a three-game series with the Boston Red Sox before the All-Star break.

The way Gomez has played since returning from the disabled list June 16 has been All-Star worthy. He has five homers in six games since coming back Friday. Before going on the DL, he had four homers in 38 games.

In his last 10 games, which goes back to May 11, Gomez is hitting .432 with four doubles, five homers and 15 RBIs. The 10-game hitting streak is his longest since 2014. Thursday was his fifth-career multi-homer game and second with the Rangers since last September.

“I’ve seen this before with Carlos, when he’s locked in, he’s extremely challenging, he’s a true professional hitter with a ton of power,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “The effort by which he got himself back the way he did, but continued to swing the bat while he was down, it seemed like he hadn’t missed a step, and today was one of those days that prove it.”

Mike Napoli has also been swinging a hot bat since returning from the DL. He has three homers in six starts since coming back the same day as Gomez, including a two-run shot in the second Thursday that put the Rangers up 3-0.

“Those guys we were missing, it’s kind of nice to go on the road with those guys, especially the way they’ve been hitting,” said Robinson Chirinos, who had his first game of his career with three extra-base hits — two doubles and a homer. He added the return of left-hander Cole Hamels, who is likely to be back in the rotation against the Indians.

“Things are coming together,” Chirinos said.

Martin Perez held the Blue Jays scoreless through four innings but a hit-batter and error led to a two-out, four-run rally in the fifth that pulled the Jays to within 7-4.

The Rangers offense wasn’t done, however. Gomez’s two-run homer in the seventh and two more runs in the eighth pushed the lead back to seven.

“For the way that we started, it’s a really good [first half],” Gomez said of the team’s rough April and May. “We need to continue to play that way the rest of the first half, strong and come back after those four days of rest and fend them off.”

The Rangers finally feel as if they’re playing with their full arsenal. Since Gomez and Napoli returned, they’ve scored 10 or more runs three times in seven games. They had done that five times in their first 65 games. They’re averaging 7.3 runs a game over the past seven with Gomez and Napoli available for the lineup.

“For the first time in the last week and a half, the team is together,” Gomez said. “That’s why you’ve seen the last five or six games, we produce five, six, seven runs every game that we play. Now we’re together, we have the best lineup probably in baseball, and we’re going to continue to swing the bat.”

This story was originally published June 22, 2017 at 6:13 PM with the headline "Carlos Gomez’s rooster call leads to Rangers’ big win over Blue Jays."