Odor, Napoli roll with 5 RBIs apiece
Rangers rout White Sox; McHugh leads Astros over A’s.
Rougned Odor and Mike Napoli drove in enough runs on their own to make up for the Texas Rangers’ early deficit.
Odor homered twice, Napoli also went deep, and both had five RBIs as the wild card-hopeful Rangers overwhelmed the Chicago White Sox 17-7 Saturday night after trailing by five runs before even going to bat.
“We’re playing really good baseball as a team, and that’s how we need to keep playing,” said Odor, who had gone 15 games (since Aug. 1) without a homer or an RBI. “That’s how we need to keep playing to win the games, and I feel really happy how we’re playing right now, and I hope we keep playing like that.”
The Rangers (61-61) have won eight of 10 and are only 1 1/2 games behind the Amer- ican League’s second wildcard spot.
Odor’s first homer, a threerun shot in the third, made it 7-5 and ended the night for White Sox starter Derek Holland (6-13), the former Ranger starting as an oppo- nent in Texas for the first time. That came soon after Napoli’s two-run double.
Napoli added a three-run homer in the fourth before Odor hit a solo shot into the second deck of seats in right field to cap the Rang- ers’ second consecutive sixrun inning. Napoli and Odor each have 26 homers.
“This is how we envisioned being as a lineup from the beginning of the year,” Napoli said. “It’s a fun time and we’re right there, and just going one day at a time and having fun with it.”
Martin Perez (8-10), needed 40 pitches in the first as Chicago went ahead 5-0, but he made it through six innings to win his third straight start. The lefty needed just 56 more pitches and gave up only one more run after the first.
Holland spent his first eight MLB seasons in Texas, where he still lives, but the Rangers last winter declined their $11 million option and bought out the lefty for $1.5 million. He was 62-50 with a 4.35 ERA in 179 career games for Texas, but was plagued by injuries the past three seasons.
“I just couldn’t get rhythm. I just didn’t have the tempo I usually need,” Holland said. “I was definitely excited to be back home and pitch in front of the old fans and be back in front of Texas again. To give a showing like I did, it didn’t help the cause . ... I’m just upset with myself.”
Astros 3, Athletics 0: Collin McHugh earned his first win of the season Saturday night, but he was quick to give credit to his defense and the six double plays they turned.
McHugh threw six innings, and Marwin Gonzalez hit a two-run single as host Houston blanked Oakland.
McHugh (1-2) gave up six hits and struck out three.
“I might have gotten a bit more efficient (as the game wore on), but six double plays, that helps,” McHugh said. “When I was out there, I think there were three or four of them. That will end an inning and a rally pretty quickly. I was fortunate to get a couple of those.”
McHugh, who missed the first 3 1/2 months with right shoulder tendinitis a nd a right elbow injury, has allowed two runs or fewer in four of his six starts this season.
“He had to battle early; they really made him work and he had really deep counts early on,” Houston manager A.J. Hinch said. “And when he found the feel for his breaking ball that was good. His fastball was pretty good.”
Oakland didn’t get a runner past second base thanks in large part to the double plays.
“I know we made an error at the end, but we played pretty clean defense, which is something,” Hinch said. “We need to turn these double plays.”
The six double plays are the most by an AL team this season.
After Altuve and Josh Reddick walked and Yuli Gurriel singled to lead off the fourth, Gonzalez followed with his two-run single. Kendall Graveman (3-4) induced flyouts from Carlos Beltran, Juan Centeno and Derek Fisher to prevent further damage.
Houston improved to 12-2 against the A’s this year.