Rangers’ Carlos Gomez takes lead(off) and runs with it

Carlos Gomez feels at home in the leadoff spot. And it showed in his first at-bat Saturday night, his first time atop the Rangers’ lineup.

Gomez homered to left field on the first pitch from Danny Wright to give the Rangers a quick 1-0 lead. He added a two-run homer in the fourth to push the lead to 4-1.

To Gomez, it’s nothing to get too worked up about. He’s been there before, including 254 starts at leadoff. Most of those, however, came earlier in his career.

He hadn’t done it this season for the Astros nor the first 15 games with the Rangers.

“It makes sense. With what I can do. Get on base, create situations. When you’re manager it’s good to have a lot of options to lead off,” Gomez said before the game. “For me, it’s about going up there, having fun and doing my job. My job is going to be to get on base. Keep the line moving.”

For manager Jeff Banister, it’s about finding the right mix to stretch out his lineup, especially with Rougned Odor getting a day off after leaving Friday’s game in the eighth with hamstring tightness. He moved Nomar Mazara, who has hit leadoff 11 times, down to No. 7. Gomez’s on-base percentage the past week is .409.

“We like how he plays. We haven’t had a plethora of success out of the leadoff spot. We need to continue to try to stretch the lineup out and try to build innings,” Banister said. “I’m not looking at this as a traditional lead-off spot as much as it’s just a spot in the lineup.”

Gomez, who has four homers in 16 games for the Rangers (he had five in 85 games for the Astros), the lead-off spot means to get on base.

Choo’s progress

Shin-Soo Choo hopes to hit in a week for the first time since having surgery on his left forearm. He threw for the second consecutive day, reaching about 100 feet. He’s also swinging a fungo bat.

Briefly

▪ Rangers have been awarded right-hander R.J. Alvarez on a waiver claim by the Cubs. Alvarez, 25, was optioned to High A High Desert. He pitched in 21 games for the Athletics in 2015.

▪ The Rangers announced their probable rotation against the Astros series, which begins Monday. Martin Perez starts the opener against Doug Fister. A.J. Griffin faces Brad Peacock on Tuesday and Yu Darvish faces Joe Musgrove on Wednesday.

This gives Derek Holland several extra days of rest with Thursday being an off day.

This story was originally published September 10, 2016 at 10:06 PM with the headline "Rangers’ Carlos Gomez takes lead(off) and runs with it."