Kyle Higashioka doubled and drove in five runs, Josh Jung doubled and drove in four runs and the Texas Rangers stormed to a 16-4 win over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
Evan Carter went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs for Texas, which set a season high in runs. Wyatt Langford also homered as the Rangers won the opener of a three-game series.
Matt Wallner homered for the Twins, who fell to 1-3 with two games remaining on their homestand. Byron Buxton went 3-for-4 with a double.
Rangers right-hander Tyler Mahle (6-3) earned the victory despite allowing four runs on 10 hits and a walk in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out three.
Twins right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson (2-3) surrendered seven runs (six earned) on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out four on the same day he was promoted from Triple-A St. Paul to fill the rotation spot of injured starter Zebby Matthews.
The Rangers led 3-2 after four innings before erupting for five runs in the fifth. Jung started the big inning with a two-run single to left, and Higashioka followed two batters later with a two-run double to right. Josh Smith added an RBI single to put the Rangers on top 8-2.
The Twins pulled within 8-3 on Ryan Jeffers’ RBI single in the bottom of the fifth.
Carter continued the Rangers’ hit parade with a two-run blast to make it 10-3 in the sixth. He pulled a 394-foot shot to right for his second homer in as many games.
Wallner led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo homer to cut the deficit to 10-4.
Texas put the game away with a six-run eighth inning. Langford led off with a 395-foot homer to left, and Carter drove in the second run of the inning with an RBI single to right.
Jung delivered next with a two-run double to center to make it 14-4. Then came a sacrifice fly to right by Adolis Garcia and finally an RBI groundout by Higashioka to get to the final tally.
Rangers score season-high 16 runs in rout of Twins
