Marte homers and drives in 4 runs as the Diamondbacks hit 5 HRs in a 14-4 rout of Rangers
Marte homers and drives in 4 runs as the Diamondbacks hit 5 HRs in a 14-4 rout of Rangers
PHOENIX (AP) — Ketel Marte homered and had four RBIs, Eugenio Suárez hit two homers and the Arizona Diamondbacks routed the Texas Rangers 14-4 on Wednesday.
The Diamondbacks won the series opener between last year’s World Series’ teams 6-0 and jumped on Cody Bradford (5-3) early in the series finale.
Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer off the right-hander in a three-run first inning, Suárez added a solo shot in the second and Marte hit his three-run shot in the fourth. Adrian Del Castillo added a three-run shot in the fifth inning and Suárez closed out a 4-for-4 day with a solo shot in the seventh.
“We’re really executing at a high level and it’s not just the slug that we saw today,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “It’s patient at-bats waiting for our pitch, putting down the bat, handing it off to the next guy.”
Arizona (82-64) had a season-high 13 extra-base hits — 16 total — to tie San Diego for the top NL wild-card spot. The Diamondbacks also moved within 4 1/2 games of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.
Dylan Floro (6-4) walked a batter in the sixth inning after starter Merrill Kelly left in the fifth with a right hamstring cramp. Jordan Montgomery worked three innings for his first career save.
“This offense is fun to watch,” Kelly said. “Everybody just kind of feeds off each other.”
Marcus Semien hit a solo homer and had two RBIs for the Rangers, who were unable to overcome Bradford’s first shaky start since late July. Now the reigning champions are running out of time, 7 1/2 games out of the AL wild card with 16 games left.
“They swung the bats well,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy told reporters after the game. “We couldn’t keep the ball in the ballpark and that got us in this series.”
The Diamondbacks closed out the two-game interleague series doing what they do best: jump out to an early lead.
Marte hit Bradford’s first pitch into the corner for a double, Corbin Carroll followed with run-scoring triple and Grichuk launched his 200th career homer to left. It was 33rd time this season Arizona has scored at least two runs in the first inning, most in the majors and one shy of the team record set in 2018.
Suárez led off the second with his 27th homer and Marte made it 5-0 with a run-scoring single. Marte put Arizona up 8-2 in the fourth inning with his 31st homer.
Bradford allowed eight runs on nine hits in 3 2/3 innings.
“I put us in a hole early and you never want to do that as a starting pitcher,” Bradford said. “And it was a big hole — it was a 5-0 deficit after the second inning. And when I made mistakes over the plate, they capitalized today.”
Kelly out
Kelly had been solid since being reinstated from the injured list with a strained right shoulder on Aug. 11.
The right-hander was good until he started cramping up in the fifth inning. Kelly gave up Semien’s two-out solo homer in the third inning and Nathaniel Lowe’s run-scoring single in the fourth.
Kelly left the game in the fifth inning after wincing on a pitch to Semien. He allowed three runs on four hits.
UP NEXT
Texas: Top pitching prospect Kumar Rocker will make his major league debut on Thursday in the opener of a four-game series at Seattle. The Mariners have not announced a starter.
Arizona: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (2-2, 5.83 ERA) will start Friday’s opener of a three-game home series against Milwaukee.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
By JOHN MARSHALL
AP Sports Writer
