Rangers blank Marlins for 6th straight win
ARLINGTON, TX - The Texas Rangers slugged four homers and swept a six-game homestand with a 6-0 win over the Miami Marlins on Sunday in a game in which they lost standout rookie third baseman Josh Jung with a fractured thumb.
Nathaniel Lowe, Marcus Semien, Ezequiel Duran and Adolis Garcia homered while Andrew Heaney allowed four singles in 5 2/3 shutout innings.
The six-game winning streak and four homers matched Texas highs this season. The Rangers, who went into play leading the major leagues averaging 5.78 runs per game, have hit multiple homers in six consecutive games to match a franchise record.
Jung fractured the thumb on a bizarre play in the top of the sixth inning with runners on first and second and nobody out. Jorge Soler hit a scorching, 110-mph liner directly at Jung. The ball bounded out of Jung's glove, but he grabbed it and started a double play. He tagged the bag, then threw to Marcus Semien at second. Jung then left the game.
"We'll see a specialist and see where we're at, what needs to be done, whatever," Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. "We just don't know yet."
Jung went into play leading major league rookies in home runs (22), RBIs (67) and hits (117) and leading AL rookies in runs (70) and extra-base hits (47). The 25-year-old had started all 107 Rangers games this season.
The Rangers were already playing without All-Star shortstop Corey Seager, who was held out because of lingering effects of a right-thumb injury suffered last month. Bochy said Seager, who hurt the thumb on July 21, might also miss Monday night's game at Oakland.
Texas is also missing its top starter, All-Star pitcher Nathan Eovaldi, who is second in the AL in wins (11) and ERA (2.69). He is on the injured list with a forearm strain and hasn't pitched since July 18.
Texas, which hasn't had a winning season since 2016, leads the AL West by 2½ games over the World Series champion Houston Astros.
The Marlins have lost four straight but with Cincinnati's Sunday loss remain a half-game our of the final NL wild card position.
The play in which Jung was injured blunted a potential Miami rally when trailing 4-0.
"I haven't seen a play like that ever in my big-league career," Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. "When you're on a streak like this, those plays happen."
Lowe lofted a two-run drive to right field in the third inning that barely landed in the home bullpen. Semien's homer sailed into the visitors' bullpen in left in the fifth inning. Duran led off the sixth with a homer to center after entering the game in the top of the inning. Garcia, the AL's leader with 89 RBIs, homered to center leading off the eighth for his 29th this season.
Heaney (9-6) gave up two hits in the second inning, then retired 10 consecutive batters before leaving with two runners on in the sixth. He has a career-best scoreless streak of 15 2/3 innings.
Sandy Alcantara (4-10), the NL's reigning Cy Young winner, gave up five runs in six innings and allowed three homers for the first time since last September. Alcantara is 1-4 in his last seven starts.