Jesse Winker homered to highlight his career-best four-hit, five-RBI performance as the host Cincinnati Reds posted an 11-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Sunday.
Winker ripped a two-run double in the second inning and a two-run homer in the fourth before slapping an RBI single to center in the fifth. The 25-year-old, who was playing place of injured rookie Nick Senzel, entered the contest with a total of four RBIs in his previous 30 games.
Yasiel Puig launched a two-run homer for the second straight game to highlight his second three-hit performance in three contests for the Reds, who salvaged the finale of the three-game series.
Sonny Gray (3-5) allowed three runs on five hits and struck out eight over five innings to improve to 9-3 in 15 career appearances (14 starts) versus the Rangers.
Texas' Hunter Pence belted a two-run homer before exiting in the fifth inning with tightness in his right groin, the team announced.
Former Red Shin-Soo Choo launched a solo shot in the first, marking the major league-best 58th run by the Rangers in the inning and 11th such run in its last five games.
Jose Peraza's second sacrifice fly of the game staked Cincinnati to a 4-3 lead in the third inning before Winker broke open the contest in the following frame by depositing a 2-1 changeup from Ariel Jurado over the wall in left field. Puig capped the four-run uprising with a two-run shot to center to up the Reds' advantage to 8-3.
Winker added an RBI single to center to ignite a three-run fifth inning.
Cincinnati answered Texas' early run with Peraza's first sacrifice fly before taking its first lead of the series following its fourth hit of the second inning. Winker capped a nine-pitch at-bat by sending a fastball from Jurado (4-3) into the gap in right-center field to plate Tucker Barnhart and Josh VanMeter.
The Rangers benefited from a two-out rally in the third to forge a tie at 3, as Choo singled to left before Pence sent a 3-0 fastball from Gray over the wall in center field. The homer was Pence's 15th of the season and fourth in his past 10 games.
--Field Level Media
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