The Sports Xchange
May 30, 2017
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Elvis Andrus collected five RBIs in his final two at-bats as the Texas Rangers rallied for a 9-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday.
Texas trailed 5-2 going into the seventh before Andrus tied the game with a three-run homer. An inning later, he capped a four-run frame with a two-run single to left field.
The big night for Andrus gave the Rangers their largest comeback of the season and helped them improve to 4-15 in games they trailed after six innings.
Tampa Bay used three homers off Texas starter Nick Martinez to build a 5-2 lead, and that advantage held up until the seventh when Andrus homered off Danny Farquhar.
The Rangers took the lead in the eighth on a bases-loaded single from outfielder Jared Hoying off Chase Whitley (1-1). Shin-Soo Choo, who led off the first with a homer, pushed the lead to 7-5 with a sacrifice fly ahead of Andrus' third hit of the night. The five RBIs were a career high for Andrus.
The rally made a winner of Keone Kela (2-1), who pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
Whitley allowed four hits and four runs in an inning.
Tampa Bay trailed 2-0 before scoring four times off Martinez in the third inning. Daniel Robertson opened the inning with a solo homer and Steven Souza Jr. closed the scoring with a two-run shot that put the Rays up 4-2.
The Rays, who lead the majors with 79 home runs, got another from Kevin Kiermaier in the fifth to push the lead to 5-2. Tampa Bay was forced to go to its bullpen early when starter Matt Andriese exited after 1 2/3 innings with a mild groin strain.
Martinez allowed five runs in 4 1/3 innings.
The Rangers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first on Choo's homer and an RBI single from Nomar Mazara.
Tim Beckham had three of the 10 Tampa Bay hits. The Rangers finished with 11 hits, with Joey Gallo and Mazara each collecting two.
NOTES: The Rays recalled RHP Hunter Wood from Double-A Montgomery and RHP Chih-Wei Hu from Triple-A Durham for bullpen depth. To make room for the duo, the Rays put OF Peter Bourjos on the disabled list with tennis elbow and optioned RHP Jose De Leon to Triple-A Durham. ... The Rangers have decided to start RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx on Wednesday. It will be his first major league start. ... Texas 3B Adrian Beltre took over sole possession of 34th on the all-time hit list with his sixth-inning double. Beltre has 2,944 career hits.