Indians Hit 3 Straight HRs, Plesac Shuts Down Rangers 10-3
ARLINGTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Jose Ramirez went into the upper deck for his first home run in more than a month. The Cleveland Indians later got a trio of long balls unlike any they have had in nearly 15 years.
While rookie Zach Plesac allowed only two hits pitching into the eighth inning, Cleveland hitters were going deep. Ramirez ended a 29-game homerless drought in the third, and the Indians opened the seventh with three homers in a row to overwhelm the Texas Rangers 10-3 on Tuesday night.
"Everybody's contributing. It's nice," said Tyler Naquin, who had the last of the three homers in a five-pitch span off reliever Drew Smyly.
After Jake Bauers led off the Indians' seventh with a 389-foot shot to right-center, Roberto Perez and Naquin followed with homers that measured more than 400 feet. Those were Cleveland's first back-to-back-to-back homers since July 16, 2004.
"Doesn't happen very often, so surely guys enjoy it," manager Terry Francona said.
The three-run homer by Ramirez to right measured at 431 feet and made it 4-0. His fifth homer of the season was his first since May 14.
"Oh my goodness. That seemed like that was a lot of frustration all balled up into one swing," Francona said. "That was a loud swing. Hopefully that propels him a little bit."
Plesac (2-2) struck out six and walked five, the last two free passes to the Nos. 8 and 9 hitters to open the eighth and end his fifth career start. The only run the right-hander allowed came on Rougned Odor's one-out homer in the fifth that was the first hit he allowed.
"Yeah, I knew. But I got down 1-0, had to execute a pitch. I left it up over the plate and he was ready to hit it," Plesac said. "I wasn't thinking about it or anything. I was more worried about executing pitches and attacking the zone."
Oliver Perez got a double-play liner and a strikeout to get out of the eighth.
Two of the five Texas hits came in the ninth, including Willie Calhoun's two-run homer.
Rangers starter Adrian Sampson (5-4), who was 5-0 his previous six games, allowed five runs (three earned) in three innings. He gave up six runs in five innings at Boston in a no-decision last week.
"It just didn't look like he had a whole lot of life really from the first inning on," manager Chris Woodward said. "It just seemed like he was kind of fighting, not only his mechanics but just the ability to execute pitches."
Smyly, the veteran right-hander who was starting earlier in the season, took over in the fourth with a 32-pitch inning. A two-run single by Jason Kipnis made it 7-0 right after a double steal.
After the three homers in the seventh, Smyly has an 8.42 ERA and allowed 19 homers over 51 1/3 innings in his 13 games this season.
"He really hasn't been built up and he hasn't been starting, so I don't know if that was just a decline in stamina," Woodward said. "I'm not sure. First inning, he didn't get hit that hard. A lot of bloopers and weak contact. He just left some of his pitches up."
The Rangers are now 39-34 on the season and continue their series with the Indians Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)