By MATT PIKE
The Rangers offense exploded for 15 hits against the St. Louis Cardinals, finally providing run support for Texas’ electric rotation in an 11-1 victory at Globe Life Field on Friday night.
They scored more runs in the second inning against Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore (4) than in the entire three-game series loss against the Blue Jays (3) earlier this week. The most notable Rangers hits likely belonged to Marcus Semien, who provided quite the spark from the bottom of the lineup.
Josh Jung opened the scoring in the first for the Rangers with a single, driving in Sam Haggerty, before the big four run second inning. Haggerty's triple in the second drove in two runs, scoring Kyle Higashioka and Semien, before he scored on a two run home run by Wyatt Langford, giving Texas a 5-0 lead in just two innings off Liberatore.
Liberatore did get through the next three innings scoreless, before being replaced in the sixth inning by Gordon Graceffo, where the Rangers added four more runs. Semien singled driving in Jake Burger for the first run of the frame, then with one out Haggerty drove in his third run of the game scoring Higashioka. With two outs, Jung singled, driving in his second and third runs of the game, bringing home Semien and Haggerty for a 9-0 Rangers lead.
Semien's two run home run in the bottom of the seventh were the final runs for Texas, scoring himself and Higashioka. St. Louis finally found their way onto the scoreboard in the eighth inning, Lars Nootbaar doubling home Victor Scott.
With the loss, Liberatore fell to 3-4 on the season, pitching five innings and giving up five runs, four earned, on seven hits while striking out five and walking one. The Cardinals managed just five hits in the loss, with five different players getting one hit each.
St. Louis and Texas continue their series tomorrow. Sonny Gray (5-1, 4.06 ERA) takes the mound for the Cardinals against Patrick Corbin (3-3, 3.75 ERA) for the Rangers. First pitch is at 3:05pm, with pregame being joined at 2:55 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
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