Marcus Semien and Bubba Thompson each had two hits and combined for five RBIs to fuel the visiting Texas Rangers to an 8-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday afternoon.
Jonah Heim also recorded two hits while Corey Seager and Travis Jankowski each had a hit with an RBI for the Rangers. Texas broke out offensively after totaling 12 runs in its previous six games.
Jon Gray (1-1) allowed Edwin Rios’ two-run homer in the second inning. He yielded five other hits over 5 2/3 frames to help the Rangers snap a seven-game road losing streak.
Tucker Barnhart had a pair of hits for the Cubs, who grounded into two double plays and committed two errors en route to seeing their three-game winning streak end.
Chicago’s Jameson Taillon (0-2) took the loss after surrendering five runs (four earned) and six hits while striking out seven with a walk in five innings.
After totaling three runs in the first two games of the series, Texas exceeded that amount with four in the second inning alone.
Josh Smith and Heim each singled, and Jankowski delivered an RBI ground-rule double. Heim then came home on third baseman Nick Madrigal’s throwing error off Thompson’s fielder’s choice. Semien followed with a two-run double that added to Taillon’s frustration.
Chicago, though, cut that 4-0 deficit in half in the bottom of the frame. Rios, who entered 0-for-5 in his Cubs’ tenure, took a Gray offering into the center-field shrubbery.
The Rangers added a run in the fourth. Jankowski reached on Eric Hosmer’s fielding error, stole second and scored on Thompson’s double down the left-field line.
Texas plated three more runs in the sixth inning on Thompson’s RBI triple, a run-scoring single from Semien and an RBI double from Seager.
The Rangers’ bullpen allowed just one hit and struck out five over 3 1/3 innings.
–Field Level Media
