Rangers send powerful message to Astros with five-homer barrage

The Texas Rangers are on the verge of putting a huge exclamation mark on their showdown series with the Houston Astros.

In fact, no matter what happens in Thursday’s series finale at Globe Life Park, the Rangers’ 14-3 thumping of the Astros on Wednesday night added an air of invincibility around Arlington.

The Rangers hit a season-high five homers and pummeled Cy Young frontrunner Dallas Keuchel for nine runs on 11 hits and sent him to the showers by the fifth inning.

A three-run homer by Mike Napoli and a two-run blast by Rougned Odor had most of the 34,483 in attendance in hysterics before the first inning ended.

“There was a buildup getting to this point,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said after his club improved to 1  1/2 games ahead of the Astros atop the American League West. “This is not an exhale moment. This is about continuing to put your foot down. We’ve got a long ways to go yet.”

Texas has 17 games left, and Houston has 16, including a three-game head-to-head series in Houston on Sept. 25-27.

Prince Fielder clubbed two homers, including an upper-deck three-run shot to right in the sixth that made it 12-1 and added another jolt of electricity to the night. His five RBIs are the most he’s had in a game since April 2013.

“You saw some big hitters on a mission,” Banister said. “We talked about the big man in the middle and how he was close [to getting hot]. He wasn’t close tonight, he was a man on a mission, getting out front and showing what he can be in that batter’s box for us. When he gets going he’s as good as there is in the power game.”

Fielder is hitting .444 with a double, three homers and 10 RBIs in six games on the current homestand. Shin-Soo Choo was 3 for 4 with three runs scored and raised his batting average to a season-high .261.

“Keuchel, he’s tough. He doesn’t throw many mistakes, so when you get one you can’t miss it,” said Fielder, who collected his 27th career multi-homer game. “Fortunately enough tonight, we were not missing.”

Martin Perez outdueled Keuchel, holding the Astros to one run on nine hits in seven innings and left leading 14-1.

“[He handled it] like a pro,” said Banister of Perez, making arguably the biggest start of his career. “The days leading up to his start, you saw his attitude and the focus. As I watched him walk around and work, just the expression on his face, I knew we were going to get a guy who was ready to go and he showed it tonight.”

The Rangers are looking for a sweep with Colby Lewis (15-8) facing Astros right-hander Lance McCullers (5-5) at 7:05 p.m. Thursday.

“It’s a confidence booster,” said Delino DeShields, who started the six-run first by beating out an infield single. “We’ve been playing good against these guys all year. To come out like we have is pretty much saying that we’re not going to just lay down.

“We’re here until the end. We’re not going to make it easy on anybody. We’re coming and preparing every day like it’s the World Series.”

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 11:07 PM with the headline "Rangers send powerful message to Astros with five-homer barrage."