Napoli, Odor set off Rangers’ offensive fireworks in 10-run victory

The Texas Rangers’ march back into playoff contention hasn’t been a quiet one.

After a fifth comeback victory this week on Saturday, the Rangers have won eight of their last 10 by banging balls around every which way.

Mike Napoli and Rougned Odor each had five RBIs as the Rangers torched the White Sox for six runs in each of the third and fourth innings of a 17-7 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

The Rangers are back at .500 at 61-61 and remained 1 1/2 games back of the second wild-card spot in the American League.

Napoli had a two-run double and three-run home run in the two-inning deluge, while Odor had a three-run blast in the third and solo shot — his 26th homer of the season — in the fourth, all off former teammate Derek Holland.

Odor matched a career-high-tying RBI total for a game with a walk with the bases loaded in the seventh.

Shin-Soo Choo, who was 4 for 6 with three walks and three runs scored, added another three-run home run in the sixth.

“The first six-run inning was huge for us,” manager Jeff Banister said. “Guys came out swinging. They stayed engaged in their at-bats. The momentum of that inning carried over into the next.

“Once those guys get that feeling and that momentum they seem to capitalize and feed off each other.”

Texas is 7-2 on this 10-game homestand that concludes with a 2:05 p.m. first pitch Sunday.

The Rangers had season highs in runs, hits (20), extra-base hits (eight) and total bases (36). They also benefited from three White Sox errors.

The last time Texas had more than one six-run inning was 2007. The Rangers had three six-run innings in a 30-3 victory against Baltimore on Aug. 22 of that year.

A Globe Life Park crowd of 33,441 watched Martin Perez (8-10) earn his third consecutive victory, giving up six runs on seven hits and three walks over six innings and 96 pitches. He struck out four.

Perez’s beginning was shaky. He fell behind 5-0 after facing 10 White Sox hitters in the first, though he settled down. While needing 40 pitches to complete the first, Perez needed only 43 the next four.

“He was one hitter from being out of that game,” Banister said. “For him to settle down and gather himself mentally and start making pitches … he got the ball back in the strike zone and got the outs we needed.

“It’s about throwing strikes … pitch to contact. That’s what we told him after the first. We said, ‘Look, you’re a contact pitcher. Throw strikes. Stay in it, put a zero on the board, this offense is going to get going.’”

After the Rangers took the lead in the third, Perez got the shutdown inning, retiring the White Sox in order in the fourth, including two strikeouts. After the first, Perez set down 12 of his next 14.

The lefty Holland (6-13) took the loss, giving up seven runs on six hits and four walks in 2 2/3 innings of work. His last pitch of the game was delivered in the third to Odor, who smacked it into the first row in right field.

Rangers reliever Jason Grilli yielded a run in the seventh. Right-hander Jhan Marinez worked scoreless eighth and ninth innings of a game that took 3 hours, 50 minutes to play.

Elvis Andrus, Adrian Beltre and Nomar Mazara also had RBIs for Texas. The RBI was Beltre’s 1,624th , moving him past Chipper Jones for 30th all-time. His base hit that inning was No. 3,021, moving him past Rafael Palmeiro for 27th all-time.

Delino DeShields went 3 for 5 with a walk and three runs scored.

The multi-homer game was Odor’s fifth this season and eighth of his career.

With 193 home runs this season, the Rangers are just one behind Houston for the major league lead.

“This is how we envisioned being as a lineup at the beginning of the year,” Napoli said. “We haven’t really been able to do that on a consistent basis. It’s a fun time. We’re right there.”

This story was originally published August 19, 2017 at 11:28 PM with the headline "Napoli, Odor set off Rangers’ offensive fireworks in 10-run victory."