Elias Diaz, Josh Smith and Evan Carter homered as the Texas Rangers recorded a season-high 17 hits in a 10-4 win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday in Arlington, Texas.
Nathan Eovaldi (9-7) allowed three runs on six hits over five-plus innings. He struck out nine with one walk and improved to 6-0 in nine career starts against Detroit.
Alejandro Osuna and Nicky Lopez each had three hits and an RBI for Texas, which won for the seventh time in eight games. Josh Jung, Ezequiel Duran and Smith each contributed two hits and two RBIs.
Hao-Yu Lee hit a two-run homer and Colt Keith added a solo shot for Detroit, which had its three-game win streak snapped. Zach McKinstry, Dillon Dingler and Kevin McGonigle each had two hits.
Tigers starter Framber Valdez (4-6) yielded five runs on nine hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out one.
Texas claimed a 3-0 lead in the second inning. Diaz opened the scoring with his second homer in as many games, a one-out solo blast.
Osuna and Lopez followed with back-to-back singles before Justin Foscue walked to load the bases. Jung walked to drive in a run, and another scored on Duran’s sacrifice fly.
The Rangers added to their lead with two runs in the fourth inning. Jung doubled in a run with one out and scored on Duran’s single to center field.
Eovaldi no-hit the Tigers through four innings before Keith’s leadoff homer in the fifth. With two outs and a runner on, Lee’s long ball cut the deficit to 5-3.
Texas extended its lead with one out in the bottom of the sixth on Smith’s pinch-hit homer.
The Rangers sent nine batters to the plate and tacked on three runs in the seventh. The rally included consecutive run-scoring singles from Osuna, Lopez and Smith against Drew Sommers.
Detroit pushed a run across in the eighth when Ben Malgeri’s one-out single scored McKinstry, who had doubled.
Carter added a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth for the final margin.
The three-game series will take a break on Friday due to the World Cup round of 32 match between Australia and Egypt being played across the street at the home field of the Dallas Cowboys.
