Gomez homers twice; Texas wins, 11-4, for split

ARLINGTON, Texas—Carlos Gomez was munching on a doughnut and a piece of watermelon simultaneously before the game, when he predicted he would hit a home run.

Then there was the recording of a rooster call the Texas center fielder wanted played for one of his teammates.

Turns out things went even better than he planned.

Gomez went deep twice for a career high-matching five RBIs and the Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 11-4 on Thursday for a split of the four-game series.

“I’ve been feeling really well at the plate the last couple of games, and I’ve been keeping up the good work,” said Gomez, who has five homers in his six games since returning from the disabled list after missing a month with a right hamstring strain.

Mike Napoli and Robinson Chirinos also homered for the Rangers (36-36), won for the ninth time in 13 games to get back to .500 before playing 20 of their next 26 games on the road.

After his pregame snack, Gomez had sent a recording of a rooster call to the public address announcer, asking it to be played for Rangers slugger Joey Gallo, whose last name in Spanish translates to rooster.

Instead, the call got played when Gomez came to bat in the second inning and had a single.

“I want to put it up to make fun of him, so they confused it and put it on mine,” Gomez said.

That rooster call got played again after Gomez hit a threerun shot in the third that ricocheted off the left-field foul pole and put Texas up 6-0. He added a two-run homer in the seventh.

“When he’s locked in, he’s extremely challenging, he’s a true professional hitter with a ton of power,” manager Jeff Banister said.

AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez Texas Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos reaches for the throw as Toronto Blue Jays' Dwight Smith scores on a double by Luke Maile in the fifth inning Thursday in Arlington, Texas.